


Transformers VG

by sonicgirl313



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007), Transformers Generation One, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Comedy, Corrupt Council, Cybertron, Dark, Epic Battles, Friendship, Gen, Human Companions, Video & Computer Games, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:23:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 117,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonicgirl313/pseuds/sonicgirl313
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You know the story of the Autobots crashing on Earth and their war against the Decepticons, but what if the characters weren't quite the same? This story is basically an Alternate Universe where all the Transformers are different Video Game characters but the story mainly draws elements from different Transformers medias.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hard Choices

Transformers VG

Chapter 1

Deep in space, a planet known as Cybertron found itself consumed by the rage of war. The citizens known simply as Cybertonians found themselves constantly fighting and slaughtering each other; all for a conflict that has lasted for eons. A conflict that had split the Cybertronians into two equal sides; the ones who value tyranny calling themselves the Decepticons, and the ones who valued freedom calling themselves the Autobots. The leader of the Autobots let out a tired sigh as his blue optics focused on the wreckage that had once been his beautiful and peaceful home. He was full-grown mech that had blue boots and servos, white legs, red chestplates and arms, a black metal mustache, and a blue helm shaped much like a cap with two tall antennae on the sides of it.

The mech had continued silently to stare at devastated landscape until he felt a small and delicate servo lay on his shoulder.

"Mario Prime?" a sweet and kind voice asked.

Mario turned to be greeted with a femme that had pink armor over her chest and arms, white legs and midriff, red plating around her hips, red boots, a pink helm with two silver antennae, and yellow metallic hair. He could see the worry and fear painted in the femme's blue optics that remained focused on him. Very slowly her mustered up a kind smile and rested his servo on top of the femme's.

"Don't worry, Peach-One. I was just giving myself time to think a few things over." he insured as to not cause her any distress.

Peach formed her pink lips into a firm frown; she was having a hard time believing the Prime before her. She knew that the only things he was thinking about was the war raged against the one Cybertronian he once thought of as a friend, the leader of the Decepticons known as Bowsertron.

"So what exactly are you planning to do this time?" she asked.

Mario shuttered his optics as his servo slightly clenched around Peach's before answering "I noticed that the longer this war against the Decpticons has continued on, the more Cybertron itself suffers. Sometimes I can almost swear I can feel Primus himself crying out for his people as they continue to pay the price. We're running low on energon and if nothing is done soon, then it may be the end of Cybertron itself. As hard as it may be, I have no choice but to send out a team in hopes of finding a new source of energy to hopefully save this dying planet."

The pink femme felt her spark ache upon hearing this. She didn't need any words to know that the red and blue mech planned to go with the search team as his duty as a Prime. She released a shaky exhale from her air vents before placing her servos on the sides of Mario's helm, prompting him to reactivate his optics. Without a word she titled his helm where the top of it gently rested against her own.

"I will do all I can for Cybertron while you are gone, I'll be sure to relay the news to Zeldia. Just promise me that one orn that you'll return to me in one piece." Peach said in a brave tone, knowing that Mario was doing what was best for Cybertron.

"I can't make any promises but I will do my best." the Prime replied with a comforting smile.

And without a word he gently pulled his helm out of the femme's servos and walked away, knowing there was no turning back from his plan.

Back at the Autobot base, two mechs panted and constantly took in air through their vents to cool down their engines. They had both returned from a recon mission to locate any sources of energon remaining on Cybertron but instead ended up barely escaping a Decepticon attack.

"My, that was quite a close one, Luigibee. For a nanoklik I thought the both of us would end up becoming one with the All Spark." a white mech wearing large glasses over his optics, two fins on the sides of his gray helm that flashed blue whenever he talked, gray servos and boots, and green and red stripes painted on his chest commented.

The one known as Luigibee who was a small yellow mech with black legs, arms, and servos, a black metal mustache, and a yellow helm with two small horns on the side of it nodded in agreement.  
But before they could say anything else the sound of loud clanging footsteps smashing against the floor reached their audios. They both turned their heads to see the sight of a red femme with what looked like a yellow tape player on her chest, two black metal tentacles with pink spots flowing out from the bottom of her red helm, and black legs and boots running toward them.  
Her engine constantly revved as she dashed up to the two mechs with concern filling her gold optics. She came to a screeching stop in front of them and unleashed a loud blast of air from her vents as her overheated engine began to start cooling down.

"Wheelegad, did you see any sign of my cousin out there?" she asked.

The white mech shook his head before replying "I'm sorry Calliester, but I saw no sign of Marible. I know you and your grandpa Cuffer have been worried ever since she was taken by the Decepticons."

Calliester's servos formed into two firm fists as her sharp denta clenched tightly together. Marible was like a sister to her and she never forgot the sight of the purple femme screaming for her as she was dragged away by a blue armored Decepticon.

"So I'm guessing you guys weren't so successful with your recon mission either?" a scratchy sounding voice spoke up.

The trio turned to see a mech with white chest plates, legs, and gauntlets, black boots, arms, servos, a black helm with two short antennae on the sides, a large black lower jaw that was jagged and pointed, and a blue visor with a large crack over his broken left optic leaning against a wall with his arms firmly crossed.

"Wait, so you didn't find any energon sources either, Jazzden?" Luigibee asked with a frown.

"The north side of Cybertron is blacker than the inside of a drive shaft." Jazzden replied in a stern tone.

The group fell silent upon this news, nothing but worries filling their thought processors. Without any energon not only would they cease to exist but so would the Decepticons and it would be the end for all life on Cybertron. But their worries immediately vanished when they saw their leader approaching Jazzden, hoping that he would have good news to light the bleak situation they had found themselves in. But unfortunately much to their disappointment Mario only wanted the white mech to talk with him and two other mechs known as Espiowl and Kongbreaker privately.  
Jazzden nodded his head in agreement before following the red and blue mech. But unaware to anyone, hidden in the shadow near the roof was a black and red duck-like robot with glowing red optics.

"Leave Cybertron, Mario Prime, have your logic circuits fried?!" a mech that looked like an anthromorphic chameleon with a yellow horn, a black helm with a gold brow, black chestplates, arms, and boots, brown legs, gold servos, and a blue visor over his gold optics exclaimed both in shock and anger.

Mario had Jazzden and two other mechs gathered in a meeting room so he could discuss his plan to send out a search team for energy. The Prime said nothing as the black and gold mech continued glaring at him. He knew no one would be fond of the idea of leaving their planet but they had ran out of options a long time ago and needed to act or otherwise they would all be joining the All Spark.

Finally after a few seconds of silence Mario finally spoke up "I understand your concerns, Espiowl, but I have taken time to think it over and it's clear this is the only hope left for Cybertron."

"But to leave Cybertron when the Decepticons still have control over many of the areas? It would feel like we're abandoning our people." a black mech designed like a large gorilla with black armor, white arms and legs, black servos and boots, and a blue visor over his brown optics stated.

"If we don't get energon, Trailston, then it will not matter how much the Decepticons have conquered, without energon we'll all perish because of this Matrix forsaken war!" the Prime instantly answered in a stern yet angry tone as his servos tightly clenched into fists.

The three mechs remained silent as they processed their leader's words. They were truly trapped in a corner thanks to the Decepticons and if they continued to fight the war it would only be the equivalent of offlining themselves.  
Espiowl unleashed a loud blast of air out of his vents out a frustration before agreeing that to send out a team in hopes of finding a new source of energy to save the dying planet.  
The black and red robot duck who had silently been watching them flew out of the room without being noticed. It kept flying until it landed of the arm of a mech designed to look like a crocodile with blue armor covering his whole torso, gray legs and arms, blue servos and boots, a yellow tape player on his chest, a blue helm with two antennae and a red visor over his gold optics. The robotic duck transformed into a cassette before the blue mech's tape player opened up and flew inside it.

The mech smirked as the door to his tape player closed and the recording of the meeting played on his visor.

"Good job, Laserduck." he complimented as the recording finished, "Lord Bowsertron will be very pleased with this news."

Without another word, the blue mech took off, flying silently through the air.

Meanwhile a few miles from the Autobot base lay none other than the Decepticon base. Two space jets landed on the runway before transforming into a mech and a femme. The femme had gray chestplates, blue legs, arms, and boots, black gauntlets and servos, two giant blue wings attached to her back, and finally a black helm with two curved purple horns pointing toward the back of it. The mech had gray chestplates, black legs, arms, and boots, purple gauntlets and servos, two giant black wings, and a black helm with two curved red and black horns.

"I can't believe you caused me to missed, Thundernights!" the black mech hissed in anger, "I could have offlined those two pipsqueaks!"

"That's exactly why I smashed into you to make you miss, Skyreala." Thundernights replied in a bitter tone, "We can win this war without putting energon on our servos."

Skyreala let out a dark and cold chuckle as his icy blue optics glared at the femme before him. He knew that she valued all life on Cybertron and tried to avoid offlining Autobots as much as she could but when she was forced to she felt extreme guilt from it.

"Well if you didn't want energon on your servos then perhaps you shouldn't have sworn your loyalty to the Decepticons." he commented with a sly smirk.

Thundernights snarled in anger before jabbing her digit at his chestplates and yelling "You know very much as I that I would have joined the Autobots in a spark pulse if it weren't for your existence! Someone has to keep you on a leash to prevent the least amount of spilt energon as possible and I know Lord Bowsertron isn't going to hold you back."

But the two Decepticons arguing was cut short when they saw the sight of a blue mech flying toward them.  
The blue mech barely glanced at the two Decepticons staring at him once he landed; his only concern was meeting with his leader. Not wanting to waste any time he quickly entered the base's elevator and traveled to the top floor. Once the door slid open he was greeted by the sight of a large mech designed to look like a large turtle with a spiked green shell, gray armor almost completely over his entire body, black servos and boots, and a grey helm with two tan horns on the sides examining a war map with two other mechs.

Making his presence known the blue mech spoke up "Lord Bowsertron, I have returned from my recon mission."

The gray mech turned around immediately to reveal his razor sharp denta clenched together in a dark and pleased grin.

"Very well, Vectorwave, let's hear it." he said as he gestured out his servo.

Vectorwave nodded his helm before pushing a button on his gauntlet, summoning a small black wire. The blue mech walked over to one of the computer panels and plugged the wire in, prompting the recording of Mario's meeting to play on the computer screen.  
Upon hearing the Prime's plan, Bowsertron unleashed an angry and hateful snarl. He couldn't believe the one Cybertronian that he had once considered a close ally was choosing to flee the planet. He believed that the state of Cybertron was none other the Autobots leader's fault since he was convinced that the mech had allowed himself to be corrupted by the planet's government.

The Decepticon leader remained silent for a few moments before finally saying with a confident laugh "So Prime plans to flee, well we mustn't have that. We shall intercept their escape with the Nemesis and there the Autobots shall finally fall."

"Hmph, if I was in charge the Autobots would have fallen eons ago." a mech designed to look like a large frog with red chestplates, gray arms, legs, and boots, blue gauntlets and servos, two large gray wings hooked to his back and a black helm commented with a sneer.

Bowsertron's blood red optics glared at the mech who had spoken up with both hate and disgust. He would have offlined the mech a long time ago if weren't for the fact he valued his clever battle tactics and aerial fighting skills. All he could do was keep his guard up and never give the traitorous mech a chance to extinguish his spark.

"I would keep that mouth shut of yours, Wartscream, unless you want your jaw mangled like how I left that one Autobot's." he threatened with a murderous glint in his optics.

Wartscream silently snarled in anger but chose to obey for his own wellbeing. While he knew that his leader would never dare offline him because of his usefulness; he did know that the Decepticon leader wouldn't hesitate in damaging him to almost an unrepairable state. He could only hope that if he remained patient that eventually the opportunity to rip out his leader's spark would arise and then he would be free to take his place as leader of the Decepticons.  
A pleased smirk formed on Bowsertron's face when he saw that he managed to successfully silence the mech. Deciding to get back to the matter at hand, he turned toward a mech that was completely purple except for his servos and legs which were white and he had a purple helm designed like a crown that wrapped around his foreplates and had a single yellow jewel in the center of it.

"Ganonwave, I trust that you'll take care of things in my absence?" the gray mech asked.

Ganonwave nodded before answering "Cybertron shall be exactly how you left it, Lord Bowsertron."

Without another word the Decepticon leader left the room along with Wartscream and Vectorwave, planning to put his plan in action.

Back with the Autobots, Mario Prime was having his search team quickly board their ship know as the Ark. He had a feeling that once the Decepticons got wind of their plan that they would try to stop them. He only hoped that they had enough energon to find their new source of energy because if they ran out while on their search then there was no chance that any of the team would be surviving the journey. He was awakened from his thoughts when he heard a mech with red chestplates and boots, white legs, black servos, and a red helm with two long audio receivers on the sides of it call out how the crew was ready for launch. With haste Mario quickly dashed into the Ark and took his seat.

Seeing everyone was set, Jazzden began flipping the necessary switches, prompting the ship's engines to roar to life. Within a few seconds the rockets activated and the ship blasted off into space.  
Mario clenched his servos tightly, still feeling uneasy about leaving the suffering Cybertronians behind. He shuttered his optics as he recalled Peach's promise to him how she would do everything she could for Cybertron in his absence. The Prime only wished for the femme's safety against the Decepticon forces, knowing that he would never forgive himself if something terrible happened to her.

But unfortunately he wasn't able to dwell on his thoughts for long when he heard the red mech shout "Huge problem, Mario! We got Decepticons on our tail!"

Thinking fast Mario commanded "Quick, Ironlink, man the lasers and see if we can scare them off! Jazzden, keep us at full speed, don't let that ship catch us!"

Ironlink ran over to the laser cockpit and began firing at the rapidly approaching Nemesis. But while some of his shots managed to successfully hit the enemy ship, he unfortunately wasn't able to slow its progress. The Nemesis immediately blasted lasers at the Ark, aiming straight at the weapon cockpit. Ironlink yelled in pain as the blast from the opponent's fire knocked him out of his seat and caused energon to start gushing out of his injured shoulder.

Noticing this Mario yelled "Ratchet, quickly tend to Ironlink's wound!"

Ratchet who was a mainly a white mech designed to look like lion-like creature known as a lombax with red lines on his chestplates, boots, a heartbeat monitor line on both of his gauntlets, black servos, and a red brow on his white helm immediately dashed over to the injured red mech.

"Why is it always you I have to treat the most?" Ratchet commented with a smirk before summoning a welding gun from his subspace.

Ironlink chuckled at this before hissing in pain once the medic started to close up his wound.  
Taking advantage of the Autobots' loss of weapons, Bowsertron ordered for the Nemesis to attach its boarding cables so that they may go on board to defeat their opponents. It only took a few seconds for black metal cables to burst forth from the Nemesis and smash through the Ark's walls.  
Mario clenched his denta as he changed one of his servos into an orange energon axe.

"Everyone get ready, the Decepticons are bringing the fight to us!" he shouted.

All the Autobots readied their weapons, just in time for the deceptions to dash over from the Nemesis to the Ark. Cybertronians on both sides shouted a battle cry as they begin to clash with each other, firing blasters, throwing punches, swords clanging against each other. But amidst the madness Mario found himself standing face to face with none other than the Decepticon leader who had changed one of his servos into a purple spiked chain ball.

"Well it seems your plan to flee has failed, coward." Bowsertron mocked with a dark grin.

The Prime narrowed his optics before replying "I'm no coward, I would never turn my back on Cybertron, not like you have."

The Decepticon leader snarled in anger before lunging himself at his enemy. He managed to slam his entire body into the red and blue mech, knocking his body into the control panel. But by doing this it caused the control panel to get damaged and send the ship on a straight course for a meteor belt. Unfortunately none of the Cybertronians were able to notice until it was too late. Within seconds the two ships were pelted and damaged by the large space rocks, causing them both to rapidly lose power. Both Autobots and Decepticons were knocked and flung around in the rapidly shaking ship, causing them to fall in stasis lock.

Bowsertron yelled out as his head smashed against the damaged control panel and electrocuted him, forcing him in stasis lock as well. The only Cybertronian still functioning was none other than Mario Prime.  
Mario grunted and groaned as his servos grabbed ahold of the Ark's controls, trying to desperately regain control. But much to his horror, warning messages flashed in his vision, alerting him to his extremely low power levels. The Prime tried to fight with all his might to remain functioning but his optics was already starting to flicker on and off. Unable to fight against his dropping energy levels, Mario collapsed on the control panel, falling into stasis. But the last thing he saw before his processors shut down was the ship heading on a crash course for a small green and blue planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a Guide in case you don't know who's who. I'll put these at the end of the chapter every time I introduced new characters.
> 
> Mario - Optimus Prime  
> Peach - Elita One  
> Bowser - Megatron  
> Luigi - Bumblebee  
> Vector (Sonic) - Soundwave  
> Link - Ironhide  
> Raiden - Jazz  
> Winston (Overwatch) - Trailbreaker  
> Espio - Prowl  
> Ratchet (R&C) - Ratchet  
> Ganondorf - Shockwave  
> Professor Egadd - Wheeljack  
> King Wart - Starscream  
> NiGHTS - Thundercracker  
> Reala - Skywarp  
> Callie - Blaster  
> Duck Hunt Duck - Laserbeak


	2. Back Online

Chapter 2

Four million years had passed since that event and the Ark had lain dormant in the spot it had crash landed all those years ago. The ship was broken and decaying with the greenery overgrowing the ship's frame and old lava rock burying it mostly within the mountain that formed over the many years from the volcano's lava, hiding it away from all life. All remained quiet till the sound of laughter filled the air, coming from none other than three young boys walking together. One of them was a chubby child with blond hair hiding his eyes, wearing a white shirt, blue overalls, and brown shoes. The second boy also had blond hair that his away his eyes as well but he wore a black shirt, blue shorts, and black shoes instead. Finally the last boy was shorter than the other two and had black hair and brown eyes while wearing a red baseball cap, a blue and yellow striped shirt, a brown backpack, blue shorts, and red shoes.

The red capped boy grunted and panted as he tried to carry a heavy boom box in his hands, wishing that one of his companions would at least offer him some help.

"Pokey, are you sure this is a good shortcut? I think we're lost." the black-shirted boy commented.

The chubby child known as Pokey let out a loud and obnoxious laugh as he waved his hand back while replying "Ah quit worrying, Picky. We'll make it in time for the birthday party. Besides I'm never wrong."

Picky sighed before glancing back at his other companion who was forced to carry birthday present they had to deliver. He wanted to help carry it so the young boy wouldn't be using up so much energy but his brother wouldn't let him.

The red-capped boy continued carrying the boombox until he felt a pain course through his mind. Instantly he yelled out in pain, slapping both hands on the sides of his head, dropping the boombox in the process. He didn't know why but it felt like someone was calling out to him, begging for some help.

Picky noticed the boy's pain before exclaiming "Ness, what's wrong?"

Without even giving his older brother a chance to object, the black-shirted boy ran over to Ness and grabbed him by the shoulders. He frowned as he guided his companion over to some rocks to rest against.

Ness squeezed his eyes shut as the throbbing in his head grew stronger, feeling like now there were multiple voices calling out for him. There were times he felt strange sensations in his mind that neither of his parents were able to explain why he experienced them. Having grown frustrated at the pain that refused to cease, Ness blindly slammed his fist behind him, intending to hit the rocks. But much to his shock, his hand did not hit the rock but rather a strange metal panel that clicked and beeped. His eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of gears creaking and rusty metal sliding.

Picky gasped with his heart nearly stopping when before his eyes a large metal door in the mountain slid open, pushing away the greenery that had grown around it. But before he could ask any questions, his older brother grabbed him by the arm and began running out of fear, dragging him along.

"Wait, what about Ness?" the black-shirted boy asked out of worry.

"Forget him!" Pokey screamed, revealing the fear laced in his voice.

Ness' brown eyes slowly studied the open door before him; his heartbeat refusing to slow down due to both anxiety and fear. His hands shook slightly as he found himself unconsciously and slowly walking toward the open door, unaware what lay inside. The young boy took in a deep breath before gathering up his nerves and entered the doorway, feeling himself drawn to its mysterious lure. Once inside, Ness gasped in shock when there before him lay strange giant robots that didn't seemed to be moving. His head look back and forth as he examined the scene both in amazement and confusion, wondering why no one else had stumbling upon his strange discovery.

But because he was so amazed by the sight, he failed to successfully step over one of the robots' hands. Ness yelped out as he tripped over the large hand; his hands flailing in the air as he tried to grab ahold of something to prevent hitting the ground. Unfortunately one of his hands landed on a certain blue and white mech's shoulder button, pressing it and causing it to emit a loud click. The young boy's eyes instantly darted over to the yellow tape player on the mech's chest that had just opened up and released a purple cassette. Thinking fast Ness quickly hid behind a large red and blue mech, watching as the purple cassette transformed before his very eyes into a femme with purple chestplates, boots, gauntlets, and servos, blue legs and arms, a purple helm with two short white tentacles flowing out of the bottom of it, and a red visor over her gold optics.

The femme groaned as she held a servo against her head, confused on why her energon readings were so low. She shuttered her optics a few times before finally taking notice of her environment.

"Everyone's in stasis lock, that's why my energy levels are so low, Vectorwave hasn't been able to supply me." she muttered to herself.

The femme cautiously tried to take a step but almost collapsed from dizziness with warning messages flashing in her vision. She clenched her razor sharp denta as she forced herself to walk. The femme knew that in order to get her energy levels back up, she needed to give Vectorwave a new altform to activate his emergency repair systems and bring him out of stasis. Her optics searched the ruined ship, unable to find anything until from the corner of her optic she spotted the boombox Ness had left outside of the entrance. Using all her strength she walked over to the boombox, unsure exactly what it was. Her air vents released a small weak blast of air as placed two digits on the side of her helm and activated her scan.

Within an instant the blueprints for the boombox appeared on her visor, giving her information about its inner workings. Once the scan was complete she quickly rushed over to Vectorwave's chassis and pressed a panel on the front of her helm, prompting a black wire to slide out. Feeling her programs struggling to stay on, the femme pressed a panel on the mech's chestplates revealing an information port. Wasting no time she quickly plugged the wire into the port, prompting a small spark of electricity to shoot from it. She hissed in pain as she felt the information being extracted from her processor and transferred into Vectorwave's. Without warning gears in the mech's body whirred to life as his body begin to shift.

Ness' mouth dropped open as he watched the femme collapse on her knee-joints and the wire retracting back inside her helm and sliding the panel closed. Within a few seconds the blue and white mech had transformed into a blue and white boombox. But he only remained in that form for a few seconds before reverting back to his true form.  
Vectorwave groaned as his systems slowly came back online, his vision blurry due to how long he had been in stasis. He shuttered his optics a few times before he was greeted with the sight of the purple femme before him smiling in relief.

"Glad to have you back online, Vectorwave." the femme said with tiredness lingering in her voice.

Realizing that she needed energy, Vectorwave summoned a few small glowing purple blocks from his subspace and gave some of them to the femme.

"Here, get your energy back up. You'll need it, Marible." he said before drinking down his share of energon, emptying the cubes.

Marible nodded in gratefulness before downing her share of the energon, causing the warning systems to vanish from her vision.  
Vectorwave's optics glanced at all the other Decepticons still lying in stasis. He knew he didn't have enough energon to bring all of his comrades online at once but that didn't matter to him since he mainly wanted to get his leader back online. Deciding to get to work, the blue mech pushed his eject button and released Laserduck from his chest.

"Laserduck, go search this strange planet for new altforms, if the blueprints for my new altform are anything to go by then this planet if very different from Cybertron and may require adapting. Marible, get that Autobot medic's tools over there and help me do repairs on the following Decepticons, Lord Bowsertron and Skyreala, we'll worry about bringing Wartscream and Thundernights online later." he commanded.

Both Laserduck and Marible nodded their helms before dashing off to follow their orders.  
Ness didn't dare say a word as he watched the strange beings before him repair a large gray mech. His heart was racing out of fear but he remained calm due to his fear of being caught being stranger. But then without warning the throbbing pain coursed through his mind once more. The young boy quietly hissed as he squeezed his eyes shut, sensing the strange call echo throughout his mind.

 _"Reactivate Mario Prime."_ the voice whispered softly.

Ness' eyes snapped wide open with confusion, wondering who Mario Prime was. But he didn't get to think about it for long when he heard the sound of gears shifting. His eyes darted to the side to see the two mechs Vectorwave had been repairing transform into a large gray tank and a black and purple jet before reverting back to their normal forms.  
Bowsertron grumbled as he held as servo to his helm, annoyed that for the moment his vision was nothing but purple static at the moment. Fortunately the static eventually faded away to reveal Vectorwave and Marible standing before him.

"Welcome back, Lord Bowsertron." the blue mech greeted with a small bow of his helm before he handed his leader some of his remaining energon.

Bowsertron greedily gulped down the energon, hating the feeling of weakness and exhaustion he was currently experiencing. When the warning messages vanished from his sight, the Decepticon leader noticed the blueprints informing him of his new altform. The gray mech raised a metal brow in both interest and slight confusion. He was able to notice easily that the technology wasn't anything like Cybertron's, leaving him to wonder what strange lifeforms lived on the planet they currently found themselves on. But these thoughts were pushed from his mind when from the corner of his optics he spotted the slumped form of none other than Mario Prime.

Bowsertron smirked before walking over to the red and blue mech and grabbed him by the helm, unaware of the cowering small child that desperately tried to keep himself hidden behind Mario's blue boot.

"It such a pleasure to see you like this, Prime." the deception taunted with a smirk, "Seeing you trapped in stasis, unable to ever awaken due to the lack of energy. I could just rip your spark right out of your chassis and offline you completely, but it's so much more pleasing to have your mind some what active yet your body isn't. So with great pleasure, I'll let you live just so you can watch you and your Autobots decay with no way of stopping it."

With that said the Decepticon unleashed a dark laugh as he threw down the blue and red mech, causing his chassis to smash against the metal floor. Deciding there was nothing more to do there, Bowsertron ordered Vectorwave and the now online Skyreala to carry Wartscream's and Thundernight's chassis while they search to see if the planet contained any sources of energon.  
Ness sighed in relief as he watched the Decepticons leave the area, leaving him alone with the Autobots. Recalling what Bowsertron said, Ness' brown eyes glanced at the red and blue mech that lay on the floor beside him.

"So you're Mario Prime. But I don't know how to reactivate you." Ness spoke up.

But much to his shock, the young boy felt the strange presence enter his mind once again. He gasped out when his fingers began throbbing and pain, as if some kind of power was building up inside them. He clenched his teeth and began focusing on trying to get the pain out. Upon doing this, without warning lightning shot from his fingers and straight into the Prime's chestplates. Ness cried out in shock as he fell backwards, stunned at what he had just done, but that shock changed targets as he heard the sound of an engine whir to life and the mech's optics glow blue.

Mario's air vents constantly blasted out air as his systems rapidly came online in a state of panic. The last thing his memory files could recall was the Ark headed on a crash course toward an unknown blue and green planet. The mech shuttered his optics as he slowly got on his servos and knee-joints, ignoring the exhaustion caused by being in stasis for so long. But before he could say a word, he heard the sound of a small gasp. Reactivating his optics, Mario was able to spot the small form of Ness before him. The Prime raised an optic ridge as he stared at the strange being before him; he had never seen any creature like that back on Cybertron.

Deciding to get some answers the Prime asked "What exactly are you?"

Ness' brown eyes stared at the mech before him in shock before finally blurting out "I should ask you the same thing!"

Mario was fixing to reply until a wave of dizziness washed over him, reminding him how his systems needed energon. Wasting no time, the red and blue mech made his way over to a storage compartment and typed in a code. His air vents blew in relief when he saw not only did the ship still had some power but also the fact none of the Decepticons took their energon supplies. Upon recalling that his enemy was on the ship before they crashed, Mario glanced around the ship and narrowed his optics when he only saw Autobots.

"Tell me, was I the first one to reactivate from stasis?" the Prime asked before drinking some energon to refuel himself.

"Uh..." Ness started, taking a pause of nervousness before continuing, "No, I accidentally released a robot named Marible and she reactivated a robot named Vectorwave before helping him reactivate two other robots named Skyreala and Bowsertron."

Mario frowned in concern upon hearing this, knowing that with Bowsertron fully operational he could bring the war that had nearly destroyed their planet to an innocent planet that had nothing to do with the conflict with the Autobots and Decepticons.

Knowing that the Decepticons needed to be stopped the red and blue mech spoke up "I need to reactivate the rest of my companions, hopefully Mastertran-1 still works."

He walked over to a control panel and began typing in commands on the keyboard. Sure enough a small metal panel opened up and released a search droid. The droid flew out of the Ark and began scouring the area for new altforms for the Autobots. It wasn't long before the droid returned and began repairing the other mechs and giving them altforms of all sorts of different kinds of cars. Within a few seconds all the Autobots were operational once again with the droid transferring information for Mario Prime's new altform into his processor.

"Ugh, how long were we in stasis?" Luigibee asked as he shook his helm.

"By my calculations I would say for about thousands of vorns." Wheelegad commented.

"Wait then what has happened to Cybertron during all those vorns?" Ironlink exclaimed in shock.

While the mechs continued discussing amongst themselves about their current situation and the state of Cybertron, Ness only stared at them in confusion. He had easily pieced together that the Autobots were not from Earth due to the spaceship and the fact the kept mentioning the planet of Cybertron, but that left him to wonder why the Cybertronians were on Earth and why they seemed different compared to the Decepticon he saw earlier. The red-capped boy was awakened from his thoughts when he heard the mysterious voice in his mind tell him that Mario Prime would have his answers. Ness' brown eyes glanced up at the Prime who seemed to still be checking how much the ship's systems were operational, still wondering what the strange presence in his mind was.

Deciding to ignore it for now he silently walked over to the red and blue mech and patted the side of his boot.  
Mario immediately stopped what he was doing and glanced down at the being whom's name he still did not know. He could tell the young boy's eyes were filled with curiosity that was seeking answers.

He remained silent until he heard a voice echo in his processors _"Do not worry Prime. This human contains a power that seems to allow him to hear me despite being neither Cybertronian nor a Prime. You must protect and trust this human."_

Mario's optics widened in disbelief; he knew the voice he heard came from the Matrix of Leadership which was an ancient artifact that contained the knowledge of all the previous Primes and the ability to sometimes hear the creator Primus himself. He didn't understand what kind of strange power the boy held that allowed him to hear the wisdom of the Primes but he knew better than to question the Matrix which had guided him through the darkest of times.

After being quiet for a few moments, Mario finally said "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Um it's Ness." the red-capped boy replied while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, Ness..." the Prime began before kneeling down and holding out his servo to allow the young boy to climb into it so he could lift him up where he was level with his face before continuing, "My name is Mario Prime and I'm the leader of the Autobots. I think I should explain to you the war you now have seemed to have unintentionally got yourself involved with."

"Does it having anything to do with those other robots I saw earlier?" Ness asked in worry.

Mario nodded his helm silently before replying "Yes, they would be known as the Decepticons. In order to understand, I have to go back to the beginning, back to the birth of Decepticons. Back shortly before the fall of the Prime before me and someone I had considered a father, Phoenix Prime."


	3. Rise of a Prime

Chapter 3

_Before the rise of Bowsertron and the Decepticons, before my rise as a Prime, there was a time of peace led by Phoenix Prime._

"You know, Jump Pax, I really didn't need your help." grumbled a much younger Bowsertron.

Jump Pax was a much younger Mario Prime but instead of his optics being blue, he had gold optics and his metal mustache was reddish-brown instead of black. His air vents blew out a small blast of air when he listened to his closest friend complained about how he should have let him talk to the council alone. The young red and blue mech saw that the council was beginning to become very dismissive of Bowsertron's valid points due to the fact he made himself appear too aggressive so he took it upon himself to explain the points with a much calmer and more agreeable tone.

"Well it worked didn't it? If we manage to get the council on your side, it won't be long before you'll gain audience with Phoenix Prime himself." Jump Pax stated.

Bowsertron's optics that was blue in the past glanced over at his friend before releasing a chuckle with a small smile. He did have to admit he cared for the mech like a brother and was pleased that the young mech admired that he wanted to fight against the mistreatment toward the lower class. It disgusted him to see the government that reigns over all life on the planet only give energon and good jobs to Cybertronians that forked over enough credits while the rest was left to suffer. He knew that if he managed to seize a strong seat of power within Cybertron's government then he should be able to finally help the lower class.

But before the gray mech could say anything else, a loud beeping noise coming from his helm alerted him. His engine revved in annoyance as he pressed a button on his wrist, deactivating the small alarm.

"Sorry, Jump, but I got to get back to the coliseum; apparently I got some other gladiators challenging me to a fight. I have to battle if I want to keep the reputation I earned for myself otherwise Cybertronians might not be too keen to follow me. After all, no one wants a weak leader." he grumbled in slight annoyance.

Jump Pax nodded his head in understanding before watching his friend walk off. He was fixing to walk away too until he heard someone call out his name. The young mech turned around to be greeted by the sight of a femme with angelic white armor all over her chassis, black metallic hair flowing out from her white helm, and kind bright brown optics approaching him. Jump Pax almost felt his spark stop pulsing; he had recognized the femme from his and Bowsertron's meeting with the council. Without any hesitation he immediately bowed down on one knee-joint and lowered his helm.

"Empress Mayabane, it's such an honor to be in your presence." he said in a stern done, doing his best to hide the nervousness he truly felt.

Mayabane laughed before kneeling down where she was level with the mech and placed one of her servos underneath his chinplates before prompting him to tilt his helm up where he could stare at her, optic to optic.

"There's no need for the formalities, just call me Mayabane." she said with a small smile.

Jump Pax couldn't help but smile back, both partially out of kindness and nervousness as the white-armored femme took ahold of both of his servos and helped him stand back up.  
Mayabane couldn't help but release a small laugh upon noticing how nervous the mech before her was. She could understand how shocking it is for a Cybertronian to be graced by the presence of the sparkmate to the reigning Prime, but she didn't want people to worship herself as a goddess, not like how her father wanted everyone to worship him like a god after he went mad. The femme shook her helm slightly and shuttered her optics for a few moments, wanting to banish all memories of the previous Prime known as Terra Prime.

Directing her attention back to the mech before her, Mayabane commented "I heard your friend's and yours speech speaking out against the mistreatment of the lower class. I have to say I held both of you mechs' words close to my spark. It is such a cruel thing to see Cybertronians treated so unfairly just because they do not contain wealth and it makes me happy to see that there's at least someone willing to take a stand against it. Reminds me much of my sparkmate Phoenix Prime."

"Well I think Bowsertron is more of a Prime than I ever would be." Jump Pax admitted while rubbing the back of his neck.

But much to the young mech's surprise, instead of the empress instantly replying she instead placed a servo against her chinplates in silence with a mischievous glint in her optics. Then without warning, Jump Pax's mouth dropped open when the femme offered him an invitation to meet with the Prime himself. While he was honored to receive an opportunity to speak with Phoenix, he refused to speak with him alone since he believed that Bowsertron should be there with him as well since he was the one that started the movement.

"That's very kind of you, but I would prefer if Bowsertron was with me when I go to see Phoenix Prime. Bowsertron is more of the driving force behind everything." Jump Pax finally replied.

Mayabane nodded her helm in understanding before gently patting one of her servos on top of the young mech's helm.

"Well I hope to see you and your friend soon. I have a feeling my sparkmate will like you." she stated with a smile.

The red and blue mech couldn't help but return the smile as he watched the white femme leave. Though unfortunately his happiness quickly turned into panic when it dawned him that he was late for work. Without a word he quickly dashed off, hoping his boss wouldn't be too angry at him for showing up late.

It wasn't long till Jump Pax finally made it to work which was an Energon Storage Warehouse. His cooling vents constantly blew out air to try to cool down his heated engine that was caused from him running all the way to work. He rested his servos on his knee joints as he tried to calm down his revved engine.

"Jump Pax, there you are! I can't believe you're late for work again!" a female voice yelled.

The mech's gold optics glanced up to see a younger Peach-One except she had gold optics as well instead of blue, red metal hair instead of blonde that was hooked up like a ponytail behind her round pink helm, pink hip plating and boots instead of red, and her arms, servos, and midriff were colored light-pink instead of white. Jump Pax flashed the femme an embarrassed grin as he slowly stood back up.

"Oh hey, Toadstool, didn't think you would notice my entrance." he said with a nervous laugh.

Toadstool narrowed her optic ridges as she placed her servos on her hips plating.

"Pax, it's kind of hard not to hear your air vents blowing extremely loudly. It would be a miracle from the Matrix for no one to notice your late entrance." she pointed out.

The red and blue mech grunted in annoyance before he got to work on stacking some energon cubes. He knew his boss wouldn't be so keen with him showing up late for work in favor of helping Bowsertron with his uprising against the Cybertronian government. Neither his boss nor his co-workers were very pleased when it came to Bowsertron's motives all because of the fact he was a gladiator; they didn't see how anything good would come from a mech that is willing spill energon just for the sake of entertainment. The only one that seemed to sympathize with him was none other than his girlfriend Toadstool.

The pink femme gently cycled air through her vents before placing her servo on Jump Pax's back.

"I know you're really worried about the treatment of the lower class." she started in a quiet tone, "But you need to know it's not you that the others don't trust but rather Bowsertron. He has a noble cause but I can't help but feel that something is off with him, like there's something dark lurking inside of his spark."

The young mech immediately stopped his task and turned around to find himself staring into Toadstool's concerned optics. Without a word he gently pulled her into a hug and had her chinplates rest on top of his shoulder. The two were unable to find any words to say each other as they remained in their embrace, unsure of what the future may hold.

_I should have known that day was a sign of dark things yet to come._

Jump Pax mindlessly examined his blue gauntlets as he sat in a room with a single chair across from him. He didn't know why but he had been summoned by the council and they wouldn't reveal to him the reason why. Hoping that they had taken Bowsertron's ideals into consideration, he had agreed to the meeting. Jump Pax cycled air through his vents out of boredom, unsure of how long the council had left him sitting in the room. But his boredom ceased to exist when much to his surprise the door to the room slid open. The young mech's mouth hung ajar as his optics stared in disbelief, there before him was Phoenix Prime who was a mech with dark blue armor on his chestplates, shoulders, helm, and gauntlets, while his legs, arms, and servos were black.

"So you're the one known as Jump Pax, my sparkmate spoke fondly about you and your speech." the Prime commented as he pulled up a chair.

Unable to come up with any words, Jump Pax only numbly nodded his helm to answer.  
Phoenix raised an optic ridge at this response; his blue optics carefully studying the mech before him. While on the outside he saw a meek and nervous young mech, on the inside he sensed the slumbering will of a great leader and warrior within his spark. Phoenix knew instantly from years of experience that this meant that Jump Pax was special to the Matrix of Leadership, meaning he would need to keep a close eye on him.

Deciding to push out those thoughts for now, Phoenix asked "So tell me, Jump Pax. Exactly why are you helping with the Decepticon movement?"

"Decepticons?" the young mech replied in confusion, having never heard of the name.

The Prime noted this before explaining "I suppose your friend, Bowsertron hasn't told you yet. Decepticons is a name that Bowsertron decided to call himself and his followers. He said the name was to represent how he plans to expose the deception of Cybertronian government so everyone would see how they make empty promises and deceive their people."

Jump Pax was silent upon discovering this knowledge. He felt a little betrayed that his best friend hadn't discussed with him about the strange label he had placed upon the movement. He didn't see any reason for he and the others following Bowsertron to be called Decepticons since he considered it as something that seemed to separate them in a group, much like the government did with the classes. While Jump Pax still had faith in his friend to follow through with his beliefs and bring order to Cybertron, he refused to call himself a Decepticon like Bowsertron wanted.

Realizing he had been quiet for too long from how the Prime before him kept staring at him with his boot slightly tapping the ground with impatience, Jump Pax immediately spoke up "I only want to help those in need. I hope you don't think that automatically makes me a Decepticon."

Phoenix chuckled slightly before replying "No, Jump Pax, I don't think that makes you a Decepticon. It just makes you a kind mech. If anything you strike me more as an Autobot."

"Autobots? How many labels is everyone creating these days? What's next, Aerialbots?" the red and blue mech commented with a frown.

The Prime couldn't help but laugh at the young mech's comment; he admired how Jump Pax seemed to value the sacred phrase uttered throughout all of Cybertron and that was "Till all are One." He could tell that the mech didn't see high class or low class, or even the recent development of Autobots and Decepticons; instead he saw everyone as an equal that all deserved to be treated with respect.

 _"Kind of reminds me of myself when I was younger."_ Phoenix mentally noted with a small smile.

That was when he knew that from that moment, Jump Pax was just the mech he had been searching for. With a loud blast of air he slowly got out of his chair and walked over to the mech sitting before him.

"Jump Pax, I'm impressed that a mech your age could hold such wisdom and be able to see the value in all life. It's those kind of aspects that a leader needs." he started in a stern tone, "I've been receiving messages from the Matrix, telling me that it is time I find and start training my successor. After Mayabane told me about how you managed to sway the council with your speech, I had to meet you myself to finally confirm my decision. Jump Pax, I want to take you under my wing as the next Prime."

"The next Prime?!" the young mech exclaimed loudly as he stumbled out of the chair he was sitting in.

His logic processors repeatedly kept trying to process the words but each time he was met with disbelief. He wasn't convinced that he had the makings of a Prime and even so he believed it should be Bowsertron who should be offered the position of Prime, not him.

"I-I-I can't accept." he stuttered nervously while rapidly shaking his helm, "It's Bowsertron who you should be talking to right now. This whole movement wouldn't exist if it weren't him! For Primus' sake I'm just an Energon Stocker."

Phoenix Prime said nothing as he held out his servo to the young mech, allowing him to grasp it and pull him back up.

"I understand you want to remain loyal to your friend. But from what I've examined, Bowsertron seems to lack the patience and calm mind to guide Cybertron. He can indeed be a strong leader but without those two elements it would only guide him to failure. Tell me, Jump Pax, had you not spoken up during the meeting with the council, do you think they would have understood what Bowsertron was trying to do?" he replied.

Jump Pax remained silent as he stuttered his optics. He hated to admit but it was true that if he hadn't stepped in when he did, the council would had most likely ignored their points due to the gray mech speaking out with such hatred and anger toward them. If he truly wanted to help give equal rights to the lower class then he needed to take some control away from the one he considered like his brother. With a loud exhale from his vents, the young mech reactivated his optics which were now filled with determination and partially regret.

"Alright." he spoke up with his voice only cracking slightly, "I will accept the training to become the next Prime."

_For many vorns I trained under Phoenix Prime and over time both he and Mayabane became like parents to me. But then one orn, my choice had finally came back to haunt me._

Toadstool laughed as gently shoved Jump Pax away from her while she was typing in lockdown codes for one of the energon storage buildings. The femme could tell her boyfriend wanted to spend some time with her based on the constant grin he wore on his face and the fact she had to keep pushing him away whenever he tried to hug her against his chassis.

"Hey, training with Phoenix Prime was pretty tiring today. A mech that works this hard deserves to get a little special time with his femme." Jump Pax smirked.

"Well you'll have to wait till I finish locking everything up, don't want anyone stealing the stock or otherwise we'll both be in trouble with the boss." Toadstool smirked back.

The two laughed until they heard a loud crash not too far from them. Immediately the two of them fell silent as Jump Pax gestured with his servos for Toadstool to follow him. Without a word the two quietly and cautiously followed the direction of the sound. It wasn't long till they reached one of the storage buildings where the metal doors had been blasted open. Wanting to make sure his girlfriend was safe, Jump Pax held out his servos in front of the femme to silently tell her to stay before pressing his back to the wall and sneaking along the shadows. He remained hidden as entered the storage room and hid behind some nearby energon crates. But once he peered over them, he was horrified at the scene that lay before him.

Bowsertron was commanding different mechs to steal the energon supplies from warehouse. He now bore the purple Decepticon insignia on his chest and his optics were blood red instead of their normal blue.  
Jump Pax was so stunned by this that he had failed to see a certain blue and white mech sneaking up behind him.

"Well looks like we got ourselves a little intruder!" Vectorwave commented with a dark grin.

Before Jump Pax could even react, the blue Decepticon had already grabbed him by the neck and tossed him before Bowsertron's boots. The red and blue mech groaned as he slowly lifted up his helm to see his once close friend glaring at him with both hatred and angry. Without warning Jump Pax cried out painfully as Bowsertron grabbed and lifted him by his neck. He clenched his denta tightly when he felt the gray mech had begun to dig his razor sharp claws into his throat, creating small holes.

"Well if it isn't Phoenix Prime's little henchbot. So tell me, how has it been like since turning your back on the Decepticon cause and licking the boots of that Ridleycron spawn?" the Decepticon leader snarled as he tightened his grip.

"I-It isn't like that. I-I was on-only trying t-t-to help y-you." Jump Pax choked out, his voice box struggling to work due the crushing being placed upon it.

"Help me?! You didn't help me! You betrayed me! I could have led Cybertron to prosperity as Prime but you stole that from me!" Bowsertron yelled in anger, "I treated you like a brother and you repay me by trying to claim everything as your own, just like the Cybertronian Government."

But unknown to either of the mechs, Toadstool quietly snuck into the warehouse after she grew worried from how long her boyfriend was gone. She carefully hid behind one of the nearby pillars, watching the scene unfold before her. She was stunned when she heard Bowsertron accuse Jump Pax of turning his back on helping the lower class when she knew that the only reason he accepted training as the next Prime was so he could help Bowsertron out with his movement.

"Well none of that matters now since you'll pay the price for your treachery, traitor." the gray mech snarled.

Toadstool gasped and her optics widened when she saw Bowsertron throw down the young mech and began charging the fusion canon on his arm. Without any seconds thoughts she immediately darted toward the two mechs as fast as her legs could carry her.

"Jump Pax!" she screamed just as Bowsertron fired his canon.

Jump Pax stared in horror as his girlfriend shoved him out of the way, only to get hit by the blast herself. His spark nearly stopped pulsing as he watched the femme cry out in pain before lifelessly collapsing on the ground with burnt and melted metal on her torso. He didn't waste any time running over to the femme and cradling her chassis in his arms. He constantly pleaded for her to wake up but her optics did not reactivate. Jump Pax clenched his teeth in rage as coolant began to leak from his optics. He didn't lift his helm until he heard the sound of something charging up. When he looked up he saw that Bowsertron had his Fusion Canon charged and aimed at him.

"Such a shame she got hit and she was such a beautiful femme too. Send Toadstool my greetings in the AllSpark." the gray mech commented with his optics narrowed.

With that said Bowsertron fired his canon, hitting Jump Pax directly in the chest.  
The red and blue mech cried out as his chassis collapsed on the ground next to his lifeless girlfriend's. His audio receptors couldn't hear any sounds and his programs were beginning to rapidly shut off, one by one. He took one last look at the gray mech before his optics deactivated and his world went black. But before his conscious slipped away, he could have swore that he felt two pairs of servos gently grab ahold of him and lift him off the ground.

The young mech had no idea how long it seemed his processors were offline until he heard a voice call out "Mario, please reactivate your optics."

He didn't know who the voice belonged to but he decided to obey. When he followed the command he was greeted with the sight of a worried Mayabane standing over him while next to her was a mech with gold optics, a red torso and arms, blue shoulder armor, gauntlets, and boots, a blonde metal beard and mustache, a blue helm with a red brow, and finally white legs and servos.

"Ah good, you're functioning properly. Good to see you online, Mario Prime." the bearded mech stated.

The young mech was confused before replying "Mario isn't my name and I'm not a Prime, Phoenix is."

Upon hearing her sparkmate's name, Mayabane began to cry as she clutched her one of her servos above her chestplates where her spark rested. She didn't say a word as she reached over and picked up a round orange orb that had black handle bars and glowed blue off of the table. Her spark continued to ache in pain as she held out the object before the young mech and allowed his to grasp it within his servos.

"Mario..." the bearded mech started with a frown on his face as he rested his servo upon Mayabane's shoulder, "Both you and the femme were badly damaged from Bowsertron's attack. I had no choice but to rebuild both of your chassis completely in order to save you, hence why you are no longer Jump Pax and the femme now goes by the name Peach-One. But while I was doing this, Bowsertron laid siege on the council hall with his Decepticon army. Phoenix Prime tried to stop him but in the end he took a fusion cannon straight to the spark to protect some bystanders that were almost caught in the crossfire. Phoenix Prime is now one with the AllSpark and he left you Mario as our new Prime."

Mario was speechless, now understanding why Mayabane was painfully clutching at her chestplates. He had heard when a sparkmate loses their other half that they would experience immense pain and misery before eventually their spark would lose their strength and cease pulsing. In an attempt to help comfort his motherly figure, he slowly sat up, placed the object he now knew was the Matrix of Leadership next to him on the berth, and pulled her into a hug as she sobbed into his shoulder. He remained silent as he thought about all that has happened, Bowsertron had tried to offline him and his girlfriend while he had successfully offlined Phoenix and now was waging a war against Phoenix's Autobots. He knew that the Autobots would turn toward him to lead and he would be forced to defeat the mech he had once called a friend. He released a shaky blast of air from his vents as he shuttered his optics and coolant starting leaking from them once more.

_Though Bowsertron was the one who had decided to walk down this murderous path of war, sometimes I can't help but feel that I'm at fault as well._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phoenix Wright - Sentinel Prime  
> Maya Fey - Angelbane
> 
> Angelbane belongs to plenoptic


	4. Energy Sources

Chapter 4

"Wow, so that Bowertron guy has been fighting you Autobots ever since? Exactly how long ago has this war been going on for anyway?" Ness asked with a frown upon Mario finishing his story.

The Prime loudly exhaled air through his vents before answering "This war has been raging on for thousands of vorns. But I have a feeling time is quite different for your species on this planet so it might seem even longer then that."

The rep-capped boy said nothing as his brown eyes glanced downward; it shocked him to learn that the mech had been betrayed by his closest friend that he only wanted to help and because of the war, their planet had been suffering ever since. Just the thought of such a devastating war coming to Earth frightened the boy to the point he couldn't prevent his body shuddering in fear for a few seconds.  
But before anyone could say anything else, the Ark's computer ship system began sounding its alarms, alerting the Autobots of Decepticon activity. Wheelegad quickly rushed over to the control panel and allowed his digits to swiftly and flawlessly type in the different codes and numbers, pulling up the alarm information on screen.

"According to Mastertran-1, it just picked up two Decepticon Spark Signals coming online about twenty kliks northeast of our location. Based on Ness' story it seems to be a safe bet that it's Wartscream and Thundernights." the white mech stated as he raised one of his servos to adjust his glasses.

Mario remained silent, taking note of the information before calling for two mechs named Cliffalcon and Megahound.  
The two didn't waste time as they immediately rushed toward their leader and awaited orders. Megahound was a small green armored mech with blue optics, a round green helm with white audio receptors, green chestplates, gauntlets, and boots, white legs, and finally black arms and servos. Cliffalcon was a short mech with red armored chestplates, legs, and guantlets, black boots, servos, and arms, a red helm with two horns in the formation of a falcon, and finally a black visor that was so dark that everyone could only see the faint white glow of where his optics were located.

"Megahound and Cliffalcon, I'm going to need you two to head to those coordinates and find out what exactly what the Decepticons are up to. If what Ness said is to be correct then Vectorwave didn't have enough energon to reactivate Wartscream and Thundernights immediately, meaning that the Decepticons must have found a source of energy on this planet." the Prime commanded in a stern tone.

"Got it, Mario! We'll back as soon as we get information." Megahound said with a small salute.

Without another word, the two autobots transformed into a green jeep and a red racecar before they both sped out of the base.  
Ness' brown eyes focused on the Prime next to him, seeing that there seemed to be much conflict dwelling in his optics. The young boy raised one of his hands and pressed against the red metal of the autobot's arm, prompting the Prime to turn his helm toward him. Taking in a deep breath, Ness formed a brave smile on his face.

"Don't worry, Mario Prime. I have faith that you'll keep Bowsertron from ruining Earth with war like he did to Cybertron." he insured.

Mario didn't reply as he shuttered his optics. While he wanted to have faith in the young boy's words, he knew that the sooner that the Decepticon's leader was taken off of Earth, the better. But with the Ark damaged, leaving them stranded on the planet, the mech feared for the life he may have unintentionally endangered.

Meanwhile with the Decepticons, Wartscream grumbled in anger and disgust when his processor looked over the blueprints for his new altform which was a fighter jet. Because Bowsertron didn't want to waste anytime to try to search for altforms for Wartscream and Thundernights, he had Skyreala make copies of the schematics for his own altform and transfer it to their processors. The red and gray mech glanced around to see himself in what looked like a power plant that he noted was much like one like on Cybertron except with smaller chairs and control panels.

"Wow, this energon has got some pretty good kick to it. You can't even get energon this rich back home." Thundernights commented in amazement as she drank down a small cube of energon.

"Indeed you are correct, Thundernights." Bowsertron replied as he leaned against a wall with his arms firmly folded over his chestplates, "When I had Vectorwave send out Laserduck to scout out any nearby energy sources, I was stunned at how much power the signal was picking up. The levels read the source as so rich and pure that I knew that you and Wartscream were perfect to test its effects and had Vectorwave fill a few energon cubes with the energy from this place. Not only did it reactivate you both but it seemed to boost your sparks as well, making it flare with such power that the energon back on Cybertron could never achieve. It leaves one to wonder, if that's what the energy from just one place on this planet does, image what the rest of the planet has to offer."

The Decepticons stared in shock at their leader's words; they couldn't believe that an accidental crash on a foreign planet had leaded them to probably the richest source of energy in the universe. They knew from that moment on that no matter what they needed to reap the planet of it's energy and somehow find a way to transport it back to Cybertron.

"So what's the plan, Lord Bowsertron?" Vectorwave asked with his servo gestured toward the gray mech.

The Decepticon Leader's red optics glanced at the mech before pushing himself off the wall and knocked the back of one of his servos against it a few times.

"This material seems sturdy enough. Marible, I want you to bring this building to the ground and I want you, Wartscream, along with Thundernights and Skyreala to start construction. Since we lost our original ship, we shall simply build a new one."

Marible nodded her helm before changing both of her arms into giant pile drivers.

Back on Cybertron, Peach-One clenched her denta as she dived for cover, narrowly dodging incoming fire from Decepticons. Staying true to her promise to Mario, the femme had been battling Decepticons with her own small troop to insure that the planet didn't completely fall under enemy control for over four million years. Peach quickly peeked over the pile of scrap metal she had hidden behind and began firing at the Decepticon soldiers.

"Zeldia, how are we holding up?" she shouted.

Not far from Peach was Zeldia who was a femme with blue chestplates, arms, light-blue legs, midriff, and servos, blue and white boots, and a blue helm with a white crest, long audio receptors, and long blonde metal hair flowing from the bottom of it with her back pressed against the wall of a building and fired a large rifle around the corner at her opponents.

"Our troops are running low on ammo and the number of injured is increasing. Angelight took a photon blast shot to the chestplates and it was very close to hitting her spark. She needs medical attention now but Red Amy is back at base taking care of the wounded." Zeldia answered, not breaking her optics' focus away from her targets.

Peach revved her engine in panic and slight frustration but did her best to hide these emotions. She knew had to remain strong for her troops ever since Mario and his search team left the planet for energy. The femme grew a bit sad when she recalled the red and blue mech; she didn't know whether he was still online or not since they weren't able to get contact with the Ark. Peach was snapped out of her thoughts when a blast had zipped by her helm, causing her to gasp and quickly duck down behind her cover once more.

"Peach, careful! We can't risk losing you!" Zeldia scolded.

"Right, sorry my thought processors were on Mario again. Are you sure you hadn't felt anything from Ironlink's side of your bond with him?" the pink femme asked.

Zeldia's blue optics softened slightly before she replied in a slight heartbroken tone, "It's been thousands of vorns since I felt the presence of his spark and without a sparkbond renewal there's no way I can tell if his spark is even still pulsing. We just have to keep waiting, no matter how painful it is. But right now we shouldn't focus on that, we still have a troop of our own to take care of."

Peach sighed before nodding her head in agreement; she knew that she couldn't worry about the whereabouts of Mario and his team while her troop while still under fire. The only thing she could do was hope that she would eventually receive news of the Prime's survival and coordinates to wherever the Ark had seemed to crash landed.

Back on Earth, Megahound and Cliffalcon had finally arrived to the coordinates that Mastertran-1 had listed. Wasting no time the two quickly ducked down behind a couple of boulders before examining the scene before them. Marible was smashing her pile drivers against the ground, creating small quakes that formed large cracks in the ground that caused walls of the power plant to collapse. Once the power plant's walls were destroyed, Thundernights and Skyreala would gather them up and hand them over to Wartscream who used the metal as the material for the ship.

Cliffalcon narrowed his optics as he barely listened to his companion's mutterings about how he noticed that the Decepticons had a pile of large energon cubes, meaning that they had been gathering energy. The red mech carefully studied each of the Decepticons' locations, making sure that none of them had noticed their presence. But his attention was directed toward Bowsertron when he noticed the gray mech had his back turned toward him while he was giving orders to his troops. A smirk slowly formed on Cliffalcon's faceplates as he summoned a large sniper rifle from his subspace.

"Cliffalcon, what are you doing?" Megahound hissed as the red mech rested the rifle on top of the boulder they were hiding behind.

"I'm going to take out Bowsertron here and now. No Bowsertron, no Decepticons." Cliffalcon answered.

But unaware to either of the mechs, slowly approaching them was a gray and black robotic dog with the Decepticon insignia on the upper hind leg joint. It snarled as its red optics stared at the two mechs hiding with one of them aiming a sniper rifle. When it saw that the rifle was aimed at Bowsertron, the robotic dog didn't waste anytime lunging at the two autobots.  
Megahound's blue optics widened before he quickly swung out his arms and grabbed ahold of the robotic dog that had lunged at them. But unfortunately because of the force of the impact, the green mech was knocked into Cliffalcon just as he was pulling the trigger.  
The red mech shuttered his optics and clenched his denta as he found his chassis slammed down on the ground, causing the sniper rifle to be pointed at an upward angle right as it fired.

The blast managed to fly above Bowsertron's head and blow up a bit of the ship that was still being built. He snarled in rage before immediately spinning around to spot the two Autobots. He hated that despite leaving the Autobots left for dead, they had still managed to reactivate themselves and try to get in the way of his plans. Without warning he aimed the fusion canon on his arm and immediately fired, intending to make sure that the two autobots stayed deactivated this time.  
Megahound was able to get the robotic dog off of him just in time to see the blast headed straight for them.

"Hit the deck!" he screamed out before grabbing the red mech by his torso and pinning him to the ground.

But unfortunately he wasn't fast enough because the blast from the fusion canon managed to rip through his side, creating a large hole with energon gushing out. Megahound cried out in pain before crashing on the ground, loosing all feeling in his torso due to circuitry lines being severed from the blast.  
Seeing his companion was injured, Cliffalcon immediately transformed into his altform and shouted for his companion to hang onto the roof of the racecar. He was relieved when he saw Megahound weakly reach up and cling his servos onto his roof. Once he was sure the green mech had a good grip on him, he immediately revved his engine loudly, prompting his tires to spin a few seconds before speeding off within seconds.

"Come on, we need to finish off those autobots!" Wartscream yelled.

But before he could take off, Bowsertron harshly grabbed his by his shoulder and yanked him down, causing his chassis to smash against the ground.

"Why did you do that, I could have offlined those autobots!" the red and grey mech hissed in anger as he slowly sat up, ignoring the pain coursing throughout his systems.

"We have no time to concern ourselves with them. We need to finish the ship as quickly as possible if we are to get back to Cybertron." the Decepticon leader replied.

So with that said, the Decepticons immediately returned to work, knowing it was now a race against time with the autobots in play once more.

It wasn't long till Cliffalcon managed to make it back to the Ark. His vents constantly cycled in and out air as he slowed down to a stop, earning shocked and worried looks from the other autobots when they saw the injured and rapidly loosing energon Megahound on the roof of his car form.  
Ratchet knew they was no time to start asking questions, so without any orders he quickly dashed over and scooped up the mech into his arms. Once he had a firm grip on him, the medic ran through the ship's hallways, planning to treat his patient back at his medical wing. Once in the medical wing, Ratchet quickly set Megahound down on one of the berths before pulling a table with his medical tools to his side.

He turned on his welder just as Wheelegad dashed into the medical room.

"I may not be a medic but I figured you could use some help with the repairs. By the looks of Megahound's injury it looks like the handy work of Bowsertron's fusion canon." the white mech commented, flinching at the fact he could easily recognize the blast from the countless numbers of autobots he had witness die on the battlefield at the decepticon leader's servos.

Ratchet nodded his head both in agreement and understanding before commanding "I'm going to need some scrap metal to create a makeshift patch for Megahound's wound. Need to keep him from loosing anymore energon with his levels hitting critical already."

As the two mechs worked hard to save their fellow autobot, Cliffalcon was back with his leader in the command center of the ship. The red mech grinded his denta together as his servos balled up into fists. He blamed himself for thinking that taking out the Leader of the Decepticons was going to be easy and because of his mistake, he almost got Megahound killed.

He was awakened from his thoughts when Mario asked him "So were you and Megahound able to gather any information before the Decepticons were alerted to your presence?"

"Uh yeah." Cliffalcon began, taking a moment clear his voice box of its static, "The cons were building a ship and I think I recall Megahound pointing out how they had a pile of energon of cubes. So you were right when you suspected that Bowsertron managed to find a source of energy on this planet."

Ness remained silent as he listened to the two mechs discuss about how the Decepticon Leader would most likely try to drain the planet dry. The young boy's eyes softened and one of his hands clenched the fabric of his shirt. He knew if he hadn't accidentally released Marible that the Decepticons would still be deactivated. A part of him wanted to blame the mysterious voice he heard but the other part of him felt that he was meant to hear its call even if it lead to him accidentally unleashing the Decepticons upon Earth.

"Well as soon as Ratchet is finished doing repairs on Megahound, we'll roll out. We're going need every autobot to make sure Bowsertron doesn't leave this planet. I don't want to bring the battle to innocent beings but we can't allow Bowsertron to steal away the planet's energy and give it to Cybertron. So if that means fighting him here, then so be it." Mario said in a stern tone.

He knew that keeping the Decepticon Leader trapped on Earth was the best decision he could do for the planet to insure it didn't get sucked dry, but he still felt guilty that he had dragged more innocent lives into a war that felt like it had gone on for an eternity, leaving him to wonder how many more would end up suffering because of one choice he had made.

 _"Phoenix, why did you have to pick me as Prime?"_ he thought to himself.

Meanwhile near the Power Plant, a man in a Power Plant employee uniform was driving a white truck looked around the ruined building with a frown. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was a blond-headed girl around Ness' age with blue eyes, wearing a big red bow on the top of her head, a pink dress, and red shoes. The young girl shuddered as she clasped her hands over her chest in worry. She never told her parents but a few years ago she discovered that she had psychic powers, granting her access to control energy and even sense things with her mind.

The man noticed the worried look on the girl's face and asked "Paula, are you alright?"

Paula shook her head for a few seconds to clear her mind before answering "Yes, Uncle, I guess I was just worried when you got that call from your boss to check on the company."

The man nodded before replying "Well sorry I had to drag you along, I was watching you for your parents when I got the call."

The young girl smiled to show she didn't mind before all of the sudden her face froze in fear. She sensed a dark and vicious aura approaching them. That was then without warning the side of the truck was hit by a blast. Paula screamed out of the car was sent tumbling and spinning before it came to a stop nearby a cliff edge. She rapidly blinked her blue eyes, her surroundings shaken up from the car's tumble. When her vision cleared she managed to see three jets circling around them in the sky.

"Paula, are you alright?" her uncle asked out of fear.

But just as she opened her mouth, before her very eyes the blue jet flew down to the ground before transforming into a robot, revealing to be Thundernights. The young girl held her breath as the robot crouched down and stared at her and her uncle with her blue optics.

"Wartscream, this wasn't an Autobot. There are a couple of strange creatures in here. I think they're organic!" Thundernights called up, prompting the two other jets to land and transform to their robot forms.

"Organic? Ugh that's about the only thing I can't stand more than the autobots or even taking orders from Bowsertron." Wartscream grumbled in disgust.

The blue femme rolled her optics before returning her attention to the two creatures.  
Paula bit her lip as the three robots continued to examine them; she could sense the dark aura lurking around the each of the robots. She glanced over at her uncle to see he was edging his foot toward the gas. They didn't know exactly what the robots were but they knew they had to get away from them. So without warning Paula's uncle hit the gas and shifted the car gear into reverse, prompting it to speed backwards.

"Those fleshlings are escaping!" Wartscream yelled.

Skyreala chuckled darkly before he smirked "Don't worry, I'll make sure to take care of our little pest problem."

Thundernights' optics widened in fear, knowing what her companion was intending to do. She made a mad dash for the black mech but it was too late. Within an instant, Skyreala disappeared within a flash of purple light before reappearing behind the truck with his blaster charged up.  
Paula's uncle stopped breathing before her glanced over at his niece who stared back at him with fear filling her blue eyes. He unleashed a loud sigh as he closed his eyes; he didn't care what happened to him, all that mattered was the safety of his niece.

With his mind set he spoke up "Paula...", only taking a pause to let go of the steering wheel before continuing, "I've always knew."

Paula was confused by this until much to her shock an invisible force sent her flying out of the truck at the urging of her uncle's fingers. That was when it dawned on her that her uncle was psychic as well. Tears filled her eyes as she watched her uncle smile regretfully at her before finally Skyreala fired his blaster and blew up the truck, prompting it to be consumed by a ball of fire. The young girl tumbled on the ground for a few seconds, crying out in pain from the impact and caused her to squeeze her eyes shut. When she reopened her blue eyes she saw Skyreala standing in front of her with his blaster aimed at her.

Skyreala was fixing to fire his blaster but much to his anger, Thundernights immediately had placed herself between him and the young girl.

"I won't let you kill her like you just did to that innocent being, Skyreala, or so help me I'll offline you myself!" Thundernights snarled in anger, enraged that she wasn't able to prevent the Decepticon from taking the life of a human.

The black mech narrowed his optics before asking "Alright, then what do you propose we do with that thing?"

The femme remained silent before she glanced back at the frightened young girl. She didn't want the creature to meet the same demise as the other one did and she knew that she had to come up with a way that would insure the girl's safety. That was when an idea struck her.

With a smug grin on her face she finally answered "Simple, we take her to Lord Bowsertron. I'm sure he'll be quite interested with the discovery of these creatures."

Paula's face turned pale in fear as Wartscream scooped her up into his servo. She didn't know who Bowsertron was but she knew it couldn't be good from the dark aura that she could sense constantly loom in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Captain Falcon - Cliffjumper  
> Megaman - Hound  
> Zelda - Chromia  
> Duck Hunt Dog - Ravage


	5. Secrets of the Mind

Chapter 5

Back on Cybertron, Peach-One was currently stealthy guiding some of her troop into one of Ganonwave's laboratories. The pink femme knew it was risky to sneak into an area heavily guarded by Decepticons but thanks to intel, she had learned that the Decpeticons had a decent amount of energon cubes stocked in the laboratory. She knew if she could snag a few cubes, she could use them to help reenergize her troop and help prevent the wounded autobots from offlining. Her servo slightly tightened around the handle of her blaster before she glanced back at the two femmes accompanying her which was Zeldia and another femme named Red Amy who was designed to look like a pink hedgehog with three large bangs sticking out from her red helm, red and white chestplates, two white metal plates with black stripes that flowed from her hip plates like the tail of a labcoat, white arms and legs, a large gray missile attached to her shoulder, and finally black servos, gauntlets, and boots.

"Alright, let's split up to find up the energon. But stay on your guard and don't allow yourself to get caught by any Decepticons." Peach whispered as made sure her blaster had enough energy.

"Wait, Peach, splitting up is a bad idea." Red Amy stated in a slight worried tone, "The Decepticons would be able to pick us off easier if each of us are alone."

"Yeah, but staying together is a bad idea because the Decepticons could get us in one swoop. Splitting up is the more stealthy approach." Zeldia stated with the hint of annoyance in her tone, "Amy, for once in your life can you not be paranoid about something?"

"I'm not paranoid..." the red and white femme started to shout but only to quiet down when she remembered where she was and continue in a voice barely above a whisper, "I'm just cautious, that's all."

Figuring that they had been standing around for too long, Peach slowly walked away from the two femmes with her blaster at the ready. As the pink femme made her way deeper and deeper into Ganonwave's lab, her optics glanced around at the different computers, a sense of unease washing over her when the screen displayed files for different experiments. But all of the sudden without warning, the ground that Peach had stepped on gave away, creating a large hole. Unable to hold in her surprised scream, the femme found herself tumbling into a tunnel. She clenched her denta as her servos frantically tried to grab for anything to stop her descent. Unfortunately she couldn't find anything before finally her chassis smashed against the ground.

The femme groaned as she forced herself on her servos and knee-joints. She slowly turned her helm slowly back and forth in an attempt to regain her bearings since her vision was full of static. Fortunately it only took a few seconds for her vision to return and finally allow her to see where she had landed. Peach's mouth slowly opened in bewilderment when she found herself in a hallowed out metal cave system with strange glowing green orbs. She slowly pushed herself upright once more as she pointed her blaster left and right, unsure of what enemies would await her in the cave system.

The pink femme cautiously made her way deeper and deeper into the cave system, making sure to keep her guard up in case she ran into any Decepticons. But before she could even take another step, the sound of shuffling began emitting from a dark area of the cave system. Wanting to investigate, Peach slowly began approaching the area while making sure her digit was firmly rested atop of her blaster's trigger in case it was an attack. Her optics narrowed when she finally reached the dark area and the noise stopped. But at that moment, without warning, a red sword swung out from the darkness. The sword came out so fast that Peach couldn't react fast enough to avoid having the sword's point aimed above her spark chamber.

"Don't come any closer or I'll offline you with your energon spilling onto the ground!" a squeaky yet angry voice snarled.

Peach didn't dare try to move, fearing even one flinch would lead to extinguishment of her spark.

But just then a female voice shouted "Wait, look! She has the Autobot insignia on her neck, she isn't with Ganonwave!"

With that said, the red sword lowered much to the pink femme's relief. Peach didn't even wait for a response as she approached the sword's mysteriously holder. When she got close enough to see them, her spark nearly stopped pulsing both in fear and shock. Before her were two mechs and a femme with tears in their armor with exposed circuitry and energon leaking from different wounds. The first mech was designed to look like a green dinosaur with blue optics, a black helm, servos, and legs, gold chestplates, gray arms, boots, and finally a blue visor over his optics. The second mech was designed to look like a brown creature that was a mixture between a crocodile and a dingo, with gold optics, red chestplates, a black helm, servos, and legs, gold spikes on his back, and finally gray arms and boots. The femme was designed to look like a pink dinosaur with blue optics, a red helm, blue and gold chestplates, white legs, black boots and arms, and finally two giant white wings attached to her back.

Peach found herself unable to form any words due to the fact her processor went blank from the shock of seeing the Cybertronians before her. The femme knew those three were Yoshilock, Swoopdo, and Snarldile of the Lightning Strike Coalition who along with two other members had mysteriously gone missing during a Decepticon raid millions of years ago. She silently kneeled down to the ground and allowed her optics examine their injuries. Her air vents shakily cycled in when she saw the huge hole in Snarldile's torso with energon constantly pouring from it with burn marks all over his armor, tears in his armor that revealed exposed circuits that occasionally released sparks of electricity, and his optics were flickering as his systems struggled to stay on.

Just then Yoshilock spoke up "We were trying to get him out of here." with his voice lingering with a hint of hatred, "Ganonwave's little Ridleycron spawns were trying to make a snack out of him by painfully ripping energy from his body. We've been through the Pit and back just to try to help Snarldile get freedom once again."

Once that was said, the green dinosaur mech roared in pain as his servos clung to the side of his helm. He clenched his denta tightly and his optics began flickering between red and blue.

"What's happening to him?" Peach exclaimed in horror.

"I don't know, I have no memory logs of what Ganonwave did to us. Only Yoshilock seems to know but when he's like this, talking to him won't do any good. He's the only one that seemed to knew all along that Ganonwave had altered us while the rest of us didn't find out until we came out of stasis." Swoopdo explained with a frown.

The pink femme was fixing to open her mouth to ask more questions until a strange buzzing sound began echoing throughout the cave system.  
Upon hearing this buzzing, Yoshilock immediately jumped up onto his boots and pulled out his red sword.

"Swoopdo, go with the femme and get Snarldile to safety! I'll hold them off!" he commanded.

"Yoshilock, I can't abandon you! It pained me just to leave behind Pledge and Klag, I can't leave you behind as well! I know what those things will do to you!" the dinosaur femme responded, her spark aching at the thought of being forced to abandon another one of her companions.

Yoshilock turned his helm toward his companion, his optics flashing to red for a second before immediately changing back to their original blue. While there was much hatred and anger burning in his optics, there was also concern. He could remember everything that happened during their long imprisonment thank to his strong memory logs that he partially cursed. He remembered the pain, he remembered the screams, he remembered Ganonwave smiling wickedly at him as he cut him apart and reorganize him and his companions like a twisted puzzle. The last thing he wanted was for his companions to go through anymore of the torture that only he could remember and he would gladly sacrifice his freedom even if it just insured the safety of at least one of his companions.

Swoopdo was able to understand this, prompting her to release a loud sigh and bow her helm in regret. She still didn't like the idea of leaving her team leader behind but deep down she knew that if she stayed by his side it would only decrease Snarldile's chances of survival. So despite her urge to want to fight off the threat along with her fellow comrade, she decided to obey her superior's orders.

Seeing his comrade understood his actions, Yoshilock finally glanced toward Peach and asked her "Please help Swoopdo and Snarldile escape and give them the safety of the Autobots. They're like my family and I don't want them to suffer anymore."

Peach stared at the mech before her; she could clearly see the concern and desperation in his eyes to keep his companions safe. Without a word she nodded her helm with a serious expression painted on her face.

Yoshilock smiled at this response before replying "Thank you. I do not know your name but I have seen you by Mario Prime's side."

The pink femme smiled back before stating "My name is Peach-One and I promise one orn I will do all I can to come back and free you and the rest of your team as well."

The dinosaur mech nodded his helm in gratefulness, intending to always remember the name of the femme that help freed his two companions. Without another word, Peach helped Swoopdo scoop up Snarldile and quickly run away, disappearing into the darkness. Yoshilock cycled air through his vents as he turned his helm back toward the sound of the buzzing. His optics narrowed as they turned red and his body began to shift and change.  
It wasn't long till Peach managed to find a new exit from the Cave System and was greeted with the sight of Red Amy and Zeldia waiting for her with energon cubes in their arms. She was relieved when Amy ran over to Snarldile and began trying to treat his wounds so he could survive the trip to the medbay. But the pink femme gasped in fear when she heard a ferocious roar echo loudly throughout the cave system. She slowly turned around as her optics stared into the Cave System in worry, leaving her to wonder exactly what Ganonwave had done to Yoshilock and his team during their imprisonment.

Meanwhile back with the Decepticons, Bowsertron raised an optic ridge as Wartscream dropped a strange creature on the ground before his boots. He had figured the planet they had crashed landed on was very different from Cybertron due to the blueprints for his altmode and the fact the Power Plant had control panels and seats much too small for any Cybertronian. But he had never imagined that the planet contained strange organic creatures that he assumed by their appearance didn't even need the energy that their planet contained. Wanting to get answers, the gray mech silently waved his servo, gesturing for Vectorwave to approach him.

Once the blue mech was by his side, Bowsertron commanded "Vectorwave, use your scan to see if you can gain information from this female organic. I doubt she'll cooperate with us."

Vectorwave nodded his helm before calling over Marible and making his servos be engulfed in a purple glow.  
Paula bit her lip in fear and tried to scamper backwards from the large Decepticon only to have Marible seize her by the shoulders and hold her in place. She took in quick and frantic breaths as her blue eyes watched Vectorwave hover his two giant servos against her head and tendrils of purple energy began to enter her mind. The young girl screamed in pain and squeezed her eyes shut; she could feel the Decepticon's presence in her mind searching and extracting information. Her hands balled up into fists as she tried to use her psychic powers to repel the unwanted entity from her mind.

With much strength, Paula managed to succeed in her task, prompting the energy to release her mind.  
Vectorwave hissed in pain upon this because the moment Paula had ejected his energy, it a sent a powerful and painful surge back through his circuitry lines. The blue mech grinded his denta together before he glanced down at his digits which now had minor burns from the power surge.

"Vectorwave, what just happened?" Bowsertron demanded, his voice dripping with venomous anger due to the fact Vectorwave hadn't finished extracting the information he wanted.

"It seems the girl has a power that allowed her to repel my telekinetic programs." Vectorwave answered as he flexed his digits to make sure they still functioned properly, "But before I was ejected from her mind, I did manage to gain some information. Like for one, her species is called humans and they have facilities all over the planet that can provide us with energy like you theorized. As for her power, I wasn't able to get all the information about it but I did manage to pick up that it isn't a common trait among the humans."

The Decepticon Leader slowly formed a scheming grin on his face upon learning this. He knew that if the planet was full of nothing but organics, that they could easily drain the planet dry with no trouble at all due to the fact they could easily overpower the humans. The only ones he knew that would be able to stand in his way were the Autobots. The Decpeticon Leader did his best to hold back the angry snarl attempting to emerge from his voice box at the thought of Mario Prime being reactivated and doing everything in his power to stop him.

The Decepticon Leader remained silent for a few more moments before finally asking "Vectorwave, was there any readings of energy when you had sent Laserduck to seek out altmodes for us?"

Vectorwave nodded his helm before answering "A couple actually. I had chosen to ignore them at the time but since you are clearly interested I shall pull up the coordinates."

With that said, the blue mech pressed a button on his gauntlet and summoned a large holographic map. At first the map was blank until many different red dots began appearing, signifying the many sources of energy located in their general area.  
Bowsertron narrowed his red optics as he stared at the closest set of coordinates to him. He needed more energy in order to insure a successful trip back to Cybertron since there wasn't enough energy from the Power Plant due to the fact he had to use most of the energy to reactivate Wartscream and Thundernights.

Finally he jabbed out his digit toward one of the coordinates and said "We shall go here. It's the least amount of kliks to travel to get there. We'll move immediately and bring the girl as a hostage incase there's any foolish humans with any dumb ideas. They can't hurt us but they might be able to destroy the energy source."

Paula screamed in fear as Wartscream grabbed ahold of her and tossed her high into the air and allowing her to fall back down. Her heart raced in panic until she felt her body land in the seat of a jet cockpit. It was then that it dawned on her that Wartscream done that so he could change into his jet form for her to ride in. Before the young girl could even try to attempt to jump out of the jet cockpit, the Decepticon made the seatbelts lash out and wrapped tightly around the girl, tying her up and pinning her on the seat. Her blue eyes glanced up just in time to see the yellow cockpit window close over her head, trapping her inside. Unsure of what else to do, Paula squeezed her eyes shut and began mentally pleading out for someone to help her.

Back at the Ark, Ness gasped as he felt a presence enter his mind once more. But the voice he heard was not like the one that had called out to him and helped him reactivate Mario. Instead the voice only seemed to contain one unlike the other presence that seemed to contain the voices of many people. He also noticed the voice seemed to belong to a young girl that sounded to be around his age. The young boy was confused by this until he was greeted with the sound of the Ark's computer alarm blaring in his ears.  
Espiowl ran over to the computer and checked the results since Wheelegad was still helping Ratchet tend to Megahound's wound.

"Looks like the Decepticons are on the move again, Mario." the black mech said in a stern tone, "They had unknowingly flown into Mastertran-1's radar range, allowing us to locate them. They seem to be headed to a general area about three-thousand kliks to the east of the ship. No doubt to find more energy, so what are your orders, Prime?"

Before Mario made his decision, he contacted Ratchet and was pleased to hear that he and Wheelegad managed to successfully patch up Megahound. Taking that news as his cue, the Prime walked over to the control panel and pressed the speaker button, causing the comms throughout the entire ship to activate all at once.

"Ironlink, Jazzden, Luigibee, Cliffalcon, Cuffer, Cranky Gears, Trailston, Bulkmurray, Ratchet, Wheelegad, Megahound, Sidesnake, Sunsnake, Little Brawn, Miragetwo, Jetstreak, and Windike. I need you all to report outside of the Ark for a takedown mission. We need to keep the Decepticons from stealing Earth's energy and we need everyone working together to take down Bowsertron and his troops. We mustn't be seen by the humans so be sure when outside of the base to transform for travel, do not change from your altforms unless it's absolutely necessary. Alright, Autobots, transform and roll out!" Mario commanded with his voice filled with confidence and bravery.

Following their leader's commands, all the Autobots transformed into their vehicle forms and immediately sped out of the base. Mario was fixing to transform until he noticed Ness run up to him.

"Mario, I know this sounds crazy, but I think I need to go with you. I feel like there's just more than Decepticons there and I feel like I'm the only one that can help. I know it's dangerous but I dragged myself into this battle." the young boy pleaded.

The Prime remained silent as his optics stared at Ness, noticing there wasn't a hint of uncertainty on his face. The mech wanted the young boy to remain on the ship where it was safe but then he recalled the message from the Matrix that told him that Ness carried a strange power that allowed him to sense things that no human should be able to sense. He knew if Ness was sensing another presence among the Decepticons that it had to be important. Without a word his form shifted and changed into a red semi-truck with a gray trailer that could be summoned to him thanks to its homing beacon auto-pilot implanted in it.

"Alright, Ness, if you feel that your presence is required then I believe you. But if we are forced to battle the Decepticons which is most likely, I want you to get to safety." he said as he swung open the door on his passenger side.

Ness nodded his head in understanding before climbing up into the semi-truck seat, watching as Mario closed the door and sped out of the Ark. As he watched the surroundings of the forest sped past him in a green blur, the young boy closed his eyes and let out a shaky sigh when once more he felt the strange presence call out to him. Unsure of what good it would do, Ness mentally sent out a message, insuring the presence that help was on the way.  
But as he did this, he had no idea that back with the Decepticons, Paula's eyes snapped open and she unleashed a shocked gasp. Her hands shook in surprise as she tilted her head to stare down at them. She had sensed the presence of someone else like her; she had sensed the presence of another psychic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoshi - Grimlock  
> Birdo - Swoop  
> Dingodile - Snarl  
> Amy Rose - Red Alert


	6. Spies and Dinos

Chapter 6

Luigibee's tires screech to a halt when he and two twin Autobots had arrived to the coordinates Mastertran-1 had given them ahead of the team. The twin Autobots immediately changed into their robot forms along with Luigi. The first twin was a mech with green optics dark metal whiskers cover his the sides of his faceplates and his chin, red chestplates and gauntlets, white arms and legs, a black helm with two small antennae on the sides, red and black boots, black servos, and a giant white missile attached to his shoulder. The second twin was also a mech but while his face looked like his brother, minus the whiskers, he had blue optics, yellow chestplates, arms, legs, servos, and boots, black gauntlets and shoulders armor, and a black helm with two yellow fins on the side.

The trio had discovered the coordinates had led to an oil rig, but there was no sign of the workers. Instead it was only the Decepticons breaking open oil pipelines and dumping the oil into energon cubes to transform it into energon. They quickly took cover behind one the nearby huge oil tanks, relieved that none of the Decepticons managed to spot them.

"Looks like the cons are gathering energy by the boat load. Exactly how much energy does this planet contain?" the red mech muttered quietly.

"Why are we even bothering about that when we could just start attacking now?" the twin yellow mech commented in an annoyed tone as he pulled out his blaster.

But before the twin could even fire, Luigibee immediately swung out his arms and shoved down the twin's blaster.

"No, we have to wait for Mario and the others to arrive, Sunsnake!" he warned in a stern tone.

"Yeah, you don't want us to get caught because you decided to offline some cons you didn't like, Sun." the red mech said with his arms firmly folded across his chestplates.

"Oh shut up, Sidesnake, like you wouldn't do the same." Sunsnake snarled in anger.

But before any of the three mechs could say anything else, without warning, the ground beneath their boots began shaking. Within seconds a large crack formed in the ground, destroying the oil tank they were hiding behind and forcing them to jump back in order to avoid falling into the large crack.  
Luigibee immediately whipped his helm toward the now destroyed oil tank and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Marible glaring at them with the Decepticon insignia on her chest. The yellow mech stared in disbelief at the fact the femme was helping the very people that had taken her against her will and stripped her away from her family. But his thoughts were awakened when Marible smashed one of her pile drivers into the ground, creating another large crack in the ground.

Luigibee clenched his teeth and rolled out of the way before pulling out his twin blasters. As much as he knew how Calliester would be enraged at him for shooting at her own cousin, he knew he had no choice but to fight back. So without hesitation he began firing at the small purple femme, his laserblasts forcing her to stop smashing her pile drivers and immediately duck down to avoid being hit. But because of the fight Luigibee found himself forced into, the combined sounds of the laserblasts and the cracks formed in the ground managed to alert the other Decepticons.

When Sidesnake and his twin saw Decepticons charging toward them with their weapons armed and ready, they both immediately nodded at each other before they pulled out their guns and dashed in two different directions. Snake swiftly sped past Vectorwave who summoned the two Decepticons Laserduck and the robotic dog known as Huntage from his chest. The red mech smirked when he saw the robotic duck fly toward him while firing its turrets. Thinking fast he managed to quickly roll out of the way of the laserblasts. But before he could fire back at Laserduck, Sidesnake ended up getting knocked onto his side by Huntage. He clenched his denta in annoyance before kicking the robotic dog off of him and summoned two twin swords from his subspace. He got in a defensive position with his optics narrowed before Huntage lunged at him once more.

Sunsnake snarled in anger when from the corner of his optics he could see Thundernights and Skyreala charging toward him with their dual blasters charged and ready to fire. The yellow mech took a moment to roll his optics before summoning a flash grenade from his subspace. Without any hesitation he threw the grenade at the two Decepticons' boots, causing the explosion to emit a bright light for a few seconds. He lowered his arm from his face, pleased to see he had successfully blinded both Thundernights and Skyreala. Knowing the blinding was only temporary, Sunsnake quickly grabbed ahold of Thundernights' wings and threw her backwards, sending the blue femme crashing against and landing on her mech comrade.

Everyone kept fighting until Wartscream shouted "Stop right there, Autobots!"

Luigibee turned his helm quickly to the direction of the Decepticon's voice and froze when he saw the gray and red mech holding a little girl tightly in his servos.

"Surrender now or the human gets it!" Wartscream threatened as he tightened his grip slightly around Paula, prompting her to cry out in pain.

"Wartscream, why are you wasting the hostage on a couple of Autobots? You should have kept her hidden until Mario Prime arrived and used her against him!" Bowsertron hissed in rage.

The second in-command grumbled quietly as he refused to move from his spot. He didn't see how his leader wanted to save their hostage for the appearance of the Autobot Leader when easily he could use the human to capture the Autobots without a fight and use them against Mario Prime. He knew the Autobot Leader cared for all of his troops and would do anything in his power to try to avoid allowing any Cybertronian get offlined, whether they be Autobot or Decepticon. But because Wartscream was so focused on his annoyance toward Bowsertron, he failed to see a blue car speeding toward him at top speeds. He raised an optic ridge once the sound of the revving engine reached his audio receptors, but by then it was too late.

The red and gray mech yelped in surprise when the blue car slammed into his torso, causing him to unintentionally send Paula flying through the air. Luigibee was fixing to make a mad dash for the girl until the blue car sped past him. Within seconds the blue racecar transformed into a femme designed to look like a brown badger with blue and black chestplates, pointy blue shoulder armor, blue gauntlets, white servos, a dark blue midriff with light-blue hip plating, black legs, and blue boots. The femme moved with incredible speed, managing to successfully catch Paula in her servos and set her on the ground.

Once Paula was safe, the femme was fixing to take off till Luigibee demanded "Hey, who are you?"

The femme turned toward the yellow mech with her optics narrowed in annoyance. But because she had turned toward them, everyone could now see the bright red Autobot insignia on her chestplates.

Finally she opened her mouth and in a quickly said "Look, I have no time for this. I'm having to deal with serious spy business here so I want everyone to pretend I was never here, yes that includes Decepticons too! Now I don't need to tell you who I am but I'm on serious business and if anyone of you try to track me down I'll know because I am that skilled. Trust me I know when someone is following me, I know that there are spies everywhere! So don't follow me! I was never here!"

Without another word the femme transformed back into a racecar and sped off in a flash.  
Once the femme was gone, both Autobots and Decepticons stared at each other in confusion because due to the fact the femme had spoke so fast, none of them were able to understand what the femme was shouting at them.  
Bowertron stared in silence for a few more seconds before he shook his helm at the sound of more revving engines. He turned around to be greeted by the sight of Mario Prime and the rest of the Autobots speeding toward them.

The Decepticon leader snarled before commanding "Decpticons, the rest of the Autobots approach! Wartscream, get our hostage back and take care of those three Autobots! The rest of you come with me and take on Prime and his troop!"

Without any hesitation Bowsertron transformed into his tank mode and fired a blast of energy toward his opponents.

Back on Cybertron, Peach-One was back at the main Autobot base, standing outside of the Medbay. The pink femme was worried over what Ganonwave might have done to Swoopdo and Snarldile ever since the dinosaur femme mentioned the Decepticon had altered them during their imprisonment. Yoshilock was the only one that held the answer what Ganonwave had done to them due to being the only one who could remember, but the dinosaur mech had nobly sacrificed his freedom to insure the safety of his two comrades. Peach released a shaky sigh as her servos clenched into fists upon remembering the determined look in Yoshilock's optics as he trusted the wellbeing of his teammates in her capable servos.

She leaned her helm back, allowing her blue optics stare up at the night sky, hoping that the mech would remain strong up until the time she can finally rescue him and the rest of his teammates. At that moment, the door next to her slid open, revealing none other than Red Amy.  
The femme medic sighed as she ran her servos across her helm with a worried frown on her face.

Upon noticing this, Peach asked "Amy, is Snarldile alright? He didn't perish from his wounds did he?"

Amy's helm immediately snapped up upon hearing the commander's words before replying "Oh no, I was able to treat his wounds and right now I got him hooked up to an energon IV in order to replenish his lost energon. No the thing that is troubling me is the scan I ran on him to make sure he had no damage to his inner systems. When I was looking at his scan, it showed his formatting was not as it should be. Energon tubes had been moved, circuitry lines rerouted, transformation protocols reformatted, etc. It's almost like someone took a hacksaw and reorganized everything. When Swoopdo claimed that Ganonwave had altered them, she wasn't kidding. Based on the scan's reading, he altered them to transform into something completely different."

"But the question is, what has Ganonwave made them transform into now?" the pink femme asked with a frown.

The femme medic sighed once more before answering "I don't know but based on that roar we heard from the caves you left Yoshilock in, it can't be good."

Suddenly without warning, the sound of an explosion cut through the silence surrounding the base, alerting the autobots of the attack. Peach wasted no time quickly running as fast as she could, making her way to the main command room. Once there she was greeted with the sight of different Autobots that had been knocked to the ground by the explosion and were slowly getting up as they regained their bearings. Wasting no time, Peach quickly ran over and helped up a small femme that was designed to look like a cream colored rabbit with orange optics, green chestplates, arms, gauntlets, helm, and hip plates, white servos and midriff, and green and white boots.

"Mooncreamer, what's the status update?" Peach asked immediately.

Mooncreamer took a moment to rub her helm which was throbbing in pain before answering "It's Slipenelope, she's attacking with a troop of Decepticon soldiers. While she's attacking from the air with her air troop, she had a ground troop plant explosives that wiped out a good fraction of our soldiers."

"Do we have any fliers to take on the air troop?" the pink femme asked.

"The only fliers we have is Tailsglide, Jetpit, and Dimitracks." the green femme explained, "But there's only so much Jetpit can do without his twin Jetdark who chose to side with the Decpticons but even then according to some gathered intel, Jetdark disappeared during a scout mission hundreds of vorns ago."

But before Peach could even reply she heard a voice say "I'll help the air troops."

The commander turned around to see Swoopdo with her armor repaired. When Peach tried insisting that the dinosaur femme should get more rest due to injuries, Swoopdo brushed it off by claiming she was well enough to fight and that she wanted payback on the Decepticons for what they did to her and her team. Seeing there was no way to change her mind, Peach released a loud sigh as she placed her servos on her hip plates and shook her helm.

"Alright, but one last question. You said Ganonwave had altered you and your team. Are you sure that you can still fly like you did before?" she asked.

Swoopdo nodded her helm in response; she couldn't explain it to the femme commander but deep down in her spark and her transformation protocols, she could sense that despite Ganonwave had her entire inner workings redone, she could still fly but just not the same as she could before. The sound of another explosive going off alerted the femmes once more, making it clear they had no time to stand around and discuss strategy. Swoopdo narrowed her optics before dashing out of the main command room along with three other Autobot fliers.

Once outside, Swoopdo looked toward the sky to see Slipenelope who was a femme designed to look like a lavender mouse with long blonde hair-like metal flowing out from the bottom of her black helm, purple chestplates, gray arms, legs, servos, and midriff, turquoise boots, black gauntlets, and an orange visor over her brown optics leading a group of seekers.

"Alright I need you to fire all missiles on the fuel resources storage building, by cutting off their energon we can weaken the enemy and claim the last of this planet." she commanded.

Wasting no time, all the autobot fliers except for Swoopdo immediately transformed into their altforms and flew toward the Decepticon air troop.  
Able to notice the incoming attack, Slipenelope quickly switched to her jet form and flew at top speeds, managing to successfully dodge the Autobots. A dark chuckle escaped her voice box as she managed to set up her targeting systems to aim her missiles at the Autobots. But before she could even fire, a laser blast barely clipped her wing, causing her to misaim and the missiles miss the Autobots completely. The purple femme hissed in rage as she checked her scanners, trying to figure out who had shot her. It wasn't long until she managed to spot Swoopdo with her blaster ready to fire once more.

When she saw the dinosaur femme, Slipenelope laughed before taunting "Why, Swoopdo, so glad to see you didn't become chow for the Insecticons. So sorry to hear about your little leader Yoshilock. Last I heard the Insecticons made a mess out of him and delivered him back into the waiting servos of Ganonwave who was very eager to run more experiments on him. After all, he considers his alterations on Yoshilock one of his greatest creations."

Swoopdo snarled in rage; while she had no memory of the experiments Yoshilock claimed that Ganonwave had preformed on them, it still enraged her to see the Decepticon clearly take pleasure in the thought of her teammate continuing to suffer. She wanted nothing more than to immediately fly up and knock the energon out of the taunting Decepticon femme. But unknown to Swoopdo, as her thoughts of rage continued to build, her optics changed from blue to red.

"Also I heard how the Insecticons tried to make a meal out of one of your comrades; oh I would give anything to hear the screams of pain that must have emerged from his voice box." Slipenelope taunted once more.

At that moment, Swoopdo's rage had finally hit breaking point. She yelled in rage as her body began to shift and change.  
Peach managed to run onto the battlefield just in time to witness the dinosaur femme transformed into a strange winged being that she had never seen before. At that moment her processor recalled the blueprints she saw on the computers in Ganonwave's lab, it was there she remembered she the picture of the creature Swoopdo had transformed into with the name "Pterodactyl."

Swoopdo's red optics widen as she stared down at her new form before lifting her head up to see Slipenelope transform back into her bipedal form with a victorious smirk on her face.

"Ganonwave was right, rage is the key to triggering the transformation and proves he was successful in his experiment." she said.

"What did he do to me and my team?" Swoopdo demanded with her voice laced with anger.

The purple femme only laughed before replying "You, Swoopdo and your team are no longer just mere Cybertronians. Ganonwave, has made you all Dinobots."

The Dinobot stared once more at her new form, finally understanding what Yoshilock had meant when he said that Ganonwave had altered them. The thought of the Decepticon leader painfully ripping out crucial parts and reorganizing them to his preference horrified her deeply. But she knew what made the thought even more horrifying was that while the rest of the team was blessed by having no memory logs of the event, Yoshilock was forced to remember due to his strong memory banks. With these thoughts filling her mind processor, Swoopdo cycled air sharply through her vents, feeling rage enter her once more.

Without warning the Dinobot flew at Slipenelope at top speeds, her optics blazing with rage. Fortunately for her, the Decpeticon didn't have enough time to react and managed to get slammed into the ground.  
Slipenelope groaned as her vision was filled with static, only to be greeted with the sight of Swoopdo standing over her in her bipedal form with her blaster charged and ready to fire once the static cleared up. But much to her pleasing, before Swoopdo could even fire, Peach had grabbed the dinosaur femme by her arm and knocked away her blaster. Taking advantage of the distraction, Slipenelope quickly kicked out her legs, sweeping both of the femmes off their boots before transforming back into jet mode and having the Decepticon troops retreat.

"Why didn't you let me offline her?!" Swoopdo demanded as she stood back up.

Peach gave the dinosaur femme a stern stare before answering "I will have no one in my troop offlining any Cybertronians unless absolutely necessary. Mario has shown me that our planet is already dying thanks to this war, so every life we can save in the end matters."

The pink femme released a shaky blast of air before continuing "Before the war we saw many younglings and sparklings and our planet thrived. But now we're struggling to survive due to the lack of energon and we can't turn to the AllSpark to create more Cybertronians due to the fact that Vector Sigma has been locked away to keep it out of the Decepticons' servos. Then there's the fact couples are now too frightened to create sparklings in fears that the war would only claim the precious life the have created like it has done to all the others. I made a promise to Mario that I would do all I can for Cybertron and if that means sparing the lives of Decepticons, then so be it."

Swoopdo remained silent at the commander's confession; she had never considered that by killing the Decpticons they would only be killing off more of their already dying species. Without a word she bowed her helm in guilt and laid her servos on Peach's shoulder, wondering if Cybertron would survive to see the end of the war that has plagued them for eons.

Back on Earth, the battle against the Autobots and Decpticons was in full swing. Mario managed to barely dodge underneath Bowsertron's spiked ball as he swung his yellow axe at the Decepticon leader.  
As the chaos of the battle continued to rage on, Ness carefully crawled through metal pipes in order to avoid being spotted by the Decepticons. He kept crawling until he noticed at the end of the pipes was a girl around his age huddled in a corner against some oil pumps. Curious and confused on why a girl her age would be at an oilrig, he crawled toward her to get some answers.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he spoke up.

Upon hearing his voice, Paula gasped before spinning her body toward the young boy. Her blue eyes widened once more when she felt the presence of the psychic she sensed earlier when the Decepticons were flying to the oil fields and immediately realized that the boy before her was the source or that presence. She remained silent as she slowly reached her hand out to Ness, prompting the young boy to stiffen when he felt the presence that called out to him back on the Ark.  
Without a word Ness grasped ahold of the girl's hand and at that moment the two felt a surge of energy run through them both. The two children froze as their eyes glowed blue and blue sparks of energy coursed through their fingers.

As the two held hands, they could sense each other's thoughts and how they came to encounter the Cybertronains. Within seconds their eyes stopped glowing and they released each other's hands.

"What was that just now?" Ness asked in shock.

"A psychic link. When I took your hand we forged a link between our minds, it's a trait shared among fellow psychics." Paula answered.

"Wait I'm psychic?!" the young boy exclaimed loudly.

Unfortunately for Ness, his voice was so loud that it caught the attention of Bowsertron. The Decepticon leader's red optics glanced around his environment, noticing that while his entire troop was fighting, he indeed had enough energon for his ship. With a dark grin on his face, within seconds he formulated a plan in his processor that would insure their swift escape. Without warning, Bowsertron got rid of his spiked ball weapon and fired his fusion canon at one of the oil tanks, prompting it to explode. Just like he intended, the explosion weakened one of the oil rigs' structures and collapsed on Ness and Paula, trapping the two children underneath.

"No!" Mario Prime exclaimed in fear, horrified that the innocent lives he was trying to protect were now in a danger that could easily claim their lives.

Bowsertron laughed before stating "You were always too sentimental, Prime. You have a choice, either stop me or save the pathetic lives of those humans."

Mario didn't even need to think twice as he dashed over to the collapsed structure, blocking out the sound of the Decepticon Leader's laughter as he and the rest of the Decepticons escaped with the energon. He refused to make a choice that would only result in more death like many of his choices had led to in the past. He clenched his denta as his servos grasped ahold of the collapsed structure and started to lift it, hoping he isn't too late to save the two children's lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penelope (SC) - Slipstream  
> Cream the Rabbit - Moonracer  
> Sticks the Badger - Blurr  
> Solid Snake - Sideswipe  
> Liquid Snake - Sunstreaker


	7. Time to Talk

Chapter 7

Mario Prime clenched his denta as he frantically tossed away the burning scrap metal from the tank that Bowsertron blew up. His processor was racing with different panicked thoughts, fearing that the two innocent children who were buried underneath the metal were hurt or even worse dead. He kept pulling away the scrap metal until finally there his optics managed to spot the two children curled up into a small ball while clinging onto each other for dear life. The Prime released a sigh of relief before gently scooping up the two children into his servo. He resisted the urge to flinch in guilt when upon inspection he discovered the two children were not conscious but managed to keep a death grip on each other with their arms curled tightly around their torsos.

The red and blue mech turned toward Ratchet and asked "Ratchet, do you think you can readjust your scans to check the state of the humans?" as he gestured his servo out to the medic.

Ratchet remained silent as his thought processor sorted through the possibilities. Finally without a word the red and white medic transformed into his ambulance form and opened up his backdoors.

"Place them in the back and I'll take them back to the Ark to see what I can do there. Don't worry, Mario, I'm not going to let these younglings die on my watch." he insured.

Mario nodded his helm before placing the two children in the ambulance. Once Ratchet drove off with the two children, Mario turned toward the rest of the Autobots with determination burning in his optics. He didn't even have to utter a single word to let his troop know they were going to pursue the Decepticons. They all knew Bowertron had to remain on Earth at all costs to insure avoiding the loss of Earth's energy because if the Decepticon leader got back to Cybertron by using the energy he had stolen from Earth then he would end up reviving one planet but in exchange possibly dooming another.

Without another word the Autobots transformed into their vehicle forms and took off in a flash.

Back on Cybertron, Yoshilock groaned as his systems slowly came back online. His optics flickered for a few seconds, prompting a few sparks to emit from his helm. It wasn't long till his vision finally cleared; allowing him to find himself in a dark laboratory with his arms restrained in large energy cuffs that were connected to a large machine. The dinosaur mech narrowed his optics in rage, he knew exactly where he was and that was back in Ganonwave's lab. He could never forget the very surroundings he had memorized in his processor from the torturous experiments he had to endure.

At that moment a metal door slid open and the sounds of footsteps gently tapping upon the metal floor filled the room. Yoshilock clenched his denta tightly and stared in the direction the sound was coming from. He didn't even have to guess to know it was Ganonwave.  
The purple Decepticon wore a smug grin on his face as he approached the restrained mech, his gold optics glowing with dark intent and intrigue.

"Well it seems you have woken up, Yoshilock. I admit the Insecticons did quite a number on you after you delivered my two little experiments to the femme commander Peach-One. You were wounded badly from your escape attempt, but still you managed to fight viciously. I'm pleased to see my improvements had helped your endurance like I had predicted." he taunted as one of his servos drifted over to the control panel and began typing in commands.

Yoshilock remained silent, refusing to say a single word to his captor; all he could do was wish that he could free himself and possible take off one of Ganonwave's limbs so the Decepticon would know what it's like to be ripped apart like what he had done to him and his comrades.

"But despite your efforts, I still was able to enlist one of my associates, Slipenelope to conduct on a little experiment on the femme..." the purple Decepticon continued, taking a pause to glance at the dino mech before continuing, "Swoopdo I believe her name was."

Upon hearing this Yoshilock's optics widen before shouting "You better not harm her or Snarldile or I swear I'll rip out your still pulsing spark and crush it!"

Ganonwave only chuckled at this threat and replied "It pleases me to see you so vicious and angry; I need a good pet like that. But I would also like a more obedient pet as well. Which is why I decided to move onto the next phase of my plan."

Without warning a large claw clamped onto the back of Yoshilock's helm, prompting the dino mech to immediately start trying to shake it off.

"I cannot allow you to pull another stunt like you did earlier. So I am placing a chip into yours, Pledge's, and Klag's processors. It will compress your thoughts, making you all more willing to follow my orders. And once I get Snarldile and Swoopdo back into my grasp, I shall place the chips into their processors as well. Then I will finally have achieved my goal to create an unstoppable weapon with my army of Dinobots." he explained as he pressed the last button on his control panel.

Yoshilock continued to struggle against his restraints, desperate to escape. But the last thing he remembered was the sound of a drill emitting from the claw clamped onto his helm and a sharp pain coursing through his processor before his entire world fell into darkness once more.

Back with Swoopdo, she nervously paced back and forth next to the berth that Snarldile lay unconscious on. Her processor was still stunned and concerned at the discovery that Ganonwave had changed her and her entire team into creatures that Slipenelope called Dinobots. She didn't understand why the Decepticon felt the need to have them take the form of creatures that did not originate from Cybertron and she grew even more worried about how much about her systems had changed thanks to the Decepticon's doing. She didn't get to think about it much longer when the sound of a groan reach her audio receptors.

The dinosaur femme immediately spun around to be greeted with the sight of Snarldile's orange optics lighting up as his systems came back online. She released a sigh of relief from her air vents before sitting down next to the berth.

"Ugh, Swoopdo, what happened? Last thing I remember was those Insecticons draining energon straight from my body." the mech groaned as he slowly sat upright.

"Yoshilock and I heard your screams and instantly sprung into action. We both managed to escape our containment cells and quickly grab you and flee into the Insecticons' Cave System. Shortly after that we encountered the Autobot Commander Peach-One who is also best known as Mario Prime's second in-command. But unfortunately the Insecticons were pursuing us and in order to insure both of our freedom, Yoshilock stayed behind to fight them off. With Peach's help, I was able to bring you back to the Autobot base where your wounds were treated." she explained as she placed her hand on the mech's back to help him remain sitting upright.

Snarldile frowned and lowered his helm upon discovering that his team leader had sacrificed himself to help him achieve freedom. He knew how awful the experiments Ganonwave ran were based on the screams of pain he could hear sometimes from his containment cell. The thought of Yoshilock willing to face that torturous experience again made him feel guilty since he partially blamed himself and made him admire his leader's strength. But his thoughts shifted when he noticed Swoopdo wore a worried look on her faceplates.

Deciding to get some answers Snarldile asked "Swoopdo, is there something else you aren't telling me?"

The dinosaur femme cycled in air through her vents as she shuttered her optics. She knew the other thing that was worrying her was the revealing to her comrade about the alterations Ganonwave had done to them. Figuring that a demonstration would be better than trying to explain everything, Swoopdo stepped away from the berth and focused her programs on her transformation protocols. It took her a few moments to sort through the strange new programs in her systems, earning a confused glance from her comrade since she was standing and doing nothing. Finally her processor managed to figure out how to achieve her new altform without having to rely on rage like how she did in the battle.

Snarldile jerked back in shock as he watched Swoopdo transform into a strange creature he had never seen before instead of jet like he remembered.

"Snarldile..." the Dinobot started as she flapped her wings a bit to allow herself to perch on a nearby berth, "The form you see before you is the result of Ganonwave's alterations on me and he has made similar alterations to all of us. He changed us into beings he dubbed 'Dinobots."

The mech stared in disbelief before quickly accessing his transformation protocols. He needed to confirm this for himself so he sorted through the strange programs now occupying his chassis, trying to access his new form. Within seconds he succeeded but immediately regretted it. His body shifted and changed into a large reptilian like creature with metal plates sticking out of his back, four legs, and a long tail with spikes on the end. Because of the weight of his new form, the berth ended up collapsing underneath him, prompting him to crash to the floor.

"Wait, why do I look different than you?!" Snarldile exclaimed as he frantically glanced at his new form.

"I..." Swoopdo started but immediately hid her head behind her wings and muttered quietly "Have no idea actually. Slipenelope didn't really explain the concept of Dinobots."

Having heard the crash, Red Amy instantly dashed into the Medbay and was horrified to see the destroyed berth with the transformed Snarldile on top of it.

"What did you do?!" the medic femme yelled with her green optics wide and filled panic.

The two Dinobots glanced at each other before into shouting that it was their companion's fault, prompting Amy to groan and slap her servo against her helm.

Back on Earth, the Decepticons finally had managed to complete construction on their ship. Bowsertron impatiently dugs his claws into his arm while trying his best to hold back the angry growls that were developing in his voice box. He knew his deed of burying the humans under scrap wouldn't hold back the Autobot leader and his team for long. If he and the Decepticons wanted to get the Energon back to Cybertron then they had to take off before the Autobots could reach them. Unfortunately, much to his displeasure, his wishes went unanswered for in the distance he saw the Autobots speeding toward them. The Decepticon Leader narrowed his red optics; he was growing to hate Mario Prime more and more for how he constantly refused to back down.

Turning toward his third in-command, Bowsertron shouted "Vectorwave, buy us some time!"

The blue Decepticon nodded before summoning Marible, Huntage, and Laserduck from his chest.

"Attack the Autobots!" he commanded, prompting the three Decepticons to charge toward their opponents.

Marible had her sights set on an Autobot mech with a white metal beard, brown optics, a purple helm, chestplates, white servos, arms, legs, and orange boots. She didn't know why but the Autobot seemed familiar to her. Deciding to shake these thoughts from her processor, Marible changed her arms into pile drivers and smashed them into the ground, creating a large crack prompting the Autobots to immediately spilt up to avoid falling in. But for a brief moment, the Autobot that had her interest transformed back into his bipedal form and stared at her with his optics filled with disbelief.

"Marible?" he finally uttered in a shaky tone.

The femme's optics widened at the fact an Autobot she didn't recall knowing knew her name. At that moment a memory log entered her processor that featured her staring at two Cybertronians standing before her. Due to the fact the memory log was corrupted, she couldn't remember their faces but one strange thing stood out to her was that both of the Cybertronians had the Autobot insignia on their chestplates. She was awoken from her thoughts when Huntage rushed pass her and tried to attack the Autobot staring at her.

The purple Autobot raised his arms to shield himself from attack but fortunately a small mech with green optics, a gray helm, gauntlets, and servos, yellow chestplates, and green arms, legs, and boots threw back his servo and punched Huntage directly in the face. The robotic dog howled in pain as he was sent flying and tumbled on the ground for a few moments.

"You got to watch out for these things more, Cuffer!" the green mech scolded.

Cuffer shuttered his optics for a few seconds, trying to gather his bearings. He couldn't believe that after all that time, he had finally found his granddaughter who was taken by the Decepticons only to discover she had sided with her captors. He didn't know what the convinced the femme to become a Decepticon but he convinced himself not to concern himself with it for the moment since the more important issue was to insure Megatron doesn't leave the planet.

"Sorry, Little Brawn, just got distracted. Now let's take down those cons!" the old mech replied.

Laserduck tried to shoot lasers at the group but fortunately Trailston managed to summon his force field, protecting the group from the laserfire.

"Bulkmurray and Windike, make a path!" Mario commanded in a stern tone.

Bulkmurray who was a mech designed to look like a large green hippo with orange optics, green chestplates, gauntlets, helm, and legs, and boots and servos, and Windike who was a mech with blue optics, gray chestplates and helm, white legs, and red arms, servos, and boots both nodded at each other before changing their servos into their respective weapons. Bulkmurray's was a large wrecking ball and Windike's was a large energy sword. The two sped for knocking aside the three Decepticons aside.  
Cuffer did his best to try not to flinch in guilt as he watched his granddaughter get sent flying through the air and smash against the ground, resulting in one of her arms breaking off from the impact.

Upon seeing this, Vectorwave's chassis stiffened before he immediately recalled his troop, prompting the three Decepticons to change back into their cassette forms and fly back into his chest.

"Lord Bowsertron, my cassettes require repair and are no longer able to fight. We must act now." he warned.

The Decepticon leader nodded his helm before replying "Fortunately the Energon has been loaded. Decepticons, head for the ship and take off."

Mario clenched his denta tighter as he ran as fast as he could, trying to stop the Decepticons from fleeing into their ship. But unfortunately the Prime wasn't fast enough, because by the time he reached the Decepticon ship; it had already started its engines and took off in the air. Mario yelled in rage as he watched the ship fly higher and higher into the sky, angry that he had failed his goal at recovering the stolen energy. But when the red and blue mech turned toward his troops, much to his surprise, one of his Autobots was gone.

Back on the ship Wartscream yelled in anger at Bowsertron; he was enraged that the Decepticon leader had chosen to flee instead of disposing of the autobots in battle. His rage continued to increase when he saw his leader groan and rolled his optics in annoyance. Without even thinking the red and gray Decepticon charged up his null ray and aimed it for Bowsertron, prompting the Decepticon leader to direct his attention toward him.

"I think you should be replaced by a more wise leader! One such as me!" Wartscream hissed.

Bowsertron glared at the mech, refusing to be intimidated by his second in-command.

"Wartscream, we both know you don't have the manifolds to shoot me. You know if you offline me, you will have to deal with the repercussions and be branded as a traitor. No one would be foolish enough to follow you. They see a strong leader that can lead them to victory in me while in you they see a bunch of scrap metal." he replied.

But before anyone could say anything else, out of no where appeared an Autobot mech with purple optics, white chestplates, legs, and guantlets, a blue helm and boots, black servos, and a long purple tail.

"Sorry, Bowsertron, but your flight has been cancelled." the Autobot smirked before blasting the control panel, causing the ships systems to fail.

Before the Decepticons could even seize him, the Autobot blasted a hole in the side of the ship, granting him escape.  
Bowsertron yelled in rage as the Autobot jumped out of the ship and activated the jetpack attached to his back. The other Decepticons tried to bring back online the ship's systems, but they were unable to do so. Within seconds the ship crashed and sunk into the ocean, never to be seen again.  
All the Autobots cheered as their fellow comrade landed back safely on the ground.

"Well done, Miragetwo, you managed to keep the Decepticons from escaping." Mario congratulated as he rested his servo on Miragetwo's shoulder.

"It was pretty easy with my invisibility ability, the Decepticons weren't aware I had snuck onboard until it was too late." the blue and white mech replied with a smirk.

"So do you think Bowsertron and his troop survived the crash?" Luigibee asked.

Mario took a moment to frown; he had no doubt in his mind that the Decepticons had easily survived the crash because he knew there was no way the war could end that easily. After all he remembered that Bowsertron had survived much worse back in his Gladiator days.

After a few moments of silence, the Prime spoke up "Even if the Decepticons decide to reveal themselves once more, we will be ready and waiting for them. No matter what we will protect this planet. Now let's head back to the Ark and check on the humans to see if they are alright now."

All the Autobots agreed before transforming back into their vehicle forms and speeding off. While they knew that had won the battle for the day, all the Autobots knew that they were no where near close to winning the war.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little Mac - Brawn  
> Captain Cuttlefish - Huffer  
> Mewtwo - Mirage  
> Ike - Windcharger  
> Murray (SC) - Bulkhead


	8. Discoveries

Chapter 8

A few months had passed since the Decepticons crashed in the ocean. While the ship was deactivated and rendered useless, the Decepticons themselves weren't. Thundernights grumbled in annoyance from having to constantly hear Wartscream's whining about how Bowsertron wasn't taking any action and how once again he should be the leader. In order to try to drown him out, the blue femme stuck her helm underneath the computer panel and worked on reconnecting wires since Bowsertron had given her orders to try to get communications back online which she had doing so for the last few months. She connected together the last few wires, prompting a small spark to emit from them and the communication system whirred to life.

"Finally I did it; I fixed this Primus-forsaken machine!" Thundernights cried out as she pulled herself back out from underneath the computer panel, glad that her struggle in trying to get it to work had finally paid off.

Upon hearing this Bowsertron walked up to the control panel and began typing in commands.

"So exactly why do we need communications up again?" Skyreala asked as he leaned against the wall.

"I'm going to try to get contact with Ganonwave. With the ship out of commission, we need a new way to transport the energon cubes to Cybertron. Before we pursued the Autobots, Ganowave mentioned to me about a little project he had been working on and now I'm interested to hear what that project is. Though we'll have to use a lot of the energon cubes we gathered onboard so hopefully it'll provide us with enough power to get through, otherwise the Autobots will truly have won." the Decepticon Leader explained.

Without another word he continued to type away until finally the screen lit up. Sure enough on the communication screen appeared Ganonwave who wore the expression of exhaustion and weakness on his face.

"Bowsertron, is that really you? I feared you and the rest of your troop was offlined when we lost communications with the Nemesis many vorns ago." he exclaimed in shock.

"I can insure you that I and my troop are still very active. During our battle with the Autobots, we all ended up crash landing on an organic planet called Earth. Because we were on the Autobots' ship, we ended up losing the Nemesis during the crash and its coordinates are unknown. We discovered this planet is rich in energy, more so than Cybertron's, but when we tried to deliver it through a ship we built, those accursed Autobots sabotaged the ship and now it is at the bottom of the ocean, rendered flightless." Bowsertron replied.

"You need to transport that energon here. Supplies have run extremely low for both sides. I've tried to have my troops seize that last of Cybertron but Peach-One and her troop managed to hold their ground despite being weakened from energon deprivation." Ganonwave explained.

Bowsertron couldn't help but smirk slightly when he heard Peach's name. He admired that despite getting shot and almost offlined, her spark still managed to hang on. To him it seemed that no matter how bad the odds may seem, Peach was always determined to fight through it all.

 _"If only she wasn't helping that scum Mario Prime then should would make a great soldier for the Decepticon cause."_ he thought to himself.

"But fortunately I think I may have a way you can deliver the energon without even having to leave the planet." Ganonwave stated.

All the Decepticons fell silent as the purple mech began explaining the project he had been working on.

Back on Cybertron, Peach-One sighed in exhaustion as she sat in her office and looked over datapads concerning energon supply. Due to the fact their supply was getting dangerously low, the femme had decided that it would be best to start giving out small portions to each of her soldiers, only sparing a little more to Red Amy so she could use it to tend to the wounded. Peach shuttered her optics and rested her helm in her servos, unsure how much longer they could survive. It made her spark ache at the thought of all the Cybertronians offlining on her watch when she made a promise to Mario that she would do all she could for the planet while he was gone and she had been doing so for millions of years.

 _"Mayabane, what would you have done in this situation if you were still here?"_ she thought to herself as her memories drifted back to the time when the former Prime's sparkmate hadn't joined with the AllSpark yet.

_Peach-One was running through an obstacle course, armed with her blaster, doing her best to fire at the virtual targets. Her engine revved as she barely dodged a laserblast that zipped by her chassis. With her digits curled tightly around the handle of her blaster, she pulled the trigger and managed to take out one of the targets. But unfortunately because of this, she failed to see a laser headed straight toward her. The femme didn't realize this until she felt a small stinging sensation in her arm, followed shortly by a buzzer sounding off._

_The pink femme huffed in frustration as she placed her blaster back in her subspace. She whipped her helm to her left when she heard the sound of clapping and saw Mayabane approaching her._

_"Peach, that was great. You have greatly improved in your battle technique. Keep up the practice and you may be able to keep up with Mario yet." she complimented._

_Peach smiled but it quickly transformed into a frown when she saw Mayabane cry out in pain as her servos instinctually clutched onto her chestplates where her constantly dying spark rest. Seeing she needed help, Peach hung the white femme's free arm over her shoulder and guided her over to a bench and helped her sit down._

_"I don't understand, why do you continue to insist on helping me train when you're in so much pain from you broken sparkbond?" she asked with a frown as she sat down next to the former Empress._

_Despite being in pain, Mayabane still managed to form a smile on her face as she leaned her helm back in silence, leaving the sound of her vents constantly cycling in and out air at a rapid pace to surround them._

_"It doesn't matter if I'm dying. I will hold out as long as I can to help everyone until it is time for me to reunite with my sparkmate in the AllSpark. I want to do all I can for this planet because I know that's what Phoenix would want me to do." she began to explain with her smile never leaving her face, "Just that thought alone helps me continue on. Even if it were the other way around, I know Phoenix would be doing the same thing as me. Just the thought of us is what makes us strive forward. No matter what, I will always try to help him out any way I can. You'll understand one orn when you and Mario will eventually become sparkmates."_

_Upon hearing that Peach's faceplates heated up and her blue optics glanced down at the ground._

_Mayabane couldn't help but laugh at the sight before gathering her strength and standing back up and said "Now, how about we give that obstacle course another run? You want to be equal partners with Mario like I was to Phoenix, don't you?"_

_The white femme held out her servo to Peach and much to her pleasing, she saw the pink femme smile back before grasping ahold of her servo._

Peach was awoken from her flashback when Zeldia came running into the room with a huge grin on her face as she exclaimed that there was great news to hear in the Command Room. Hoping that it was news concerning their state on energon supplies, the pink femme immediately stood up from her desk and followed her comrade to the Command Room. Once there, she was surprised to see none other than Blurricks on the Communicator Screen.

"Oh, Commander Peach-One, I'm so glad I got ahold of you! At first I was worried I didn't have enough energy to make the call but then I also got worried about if there are any Decepticon spies listening in because you know how spies are and second of all there pretty sneaky when it comes to their disguises, in fact I bet they could be a lamppost for all we know! Anyways onto my news, so I managed to arrive on this strange planet, by the way you would not believe the weird creatures that live on this planet, in fact I saved one, but it was weird and squishy, though that could have been a Decepticon spy since I..." Blurricks exclaimed quickly.

"Blurricks, just tell her the news already!" Zeldia interrupted with a shout.

"The news... Oh, right the news! Mario Prime is alive!" the blue femme started in a confused tone but then quickly changed into an excited one.

When Peach heard this, her spark almost stopped pulsing in both shock and joy. She couldn't believe after all that time, unsure if Mario was still active or not, she finally got confirmation that his spark is still online. The pink femme slowly placed her servos over her mouth and shuttered her optics, doing her best not to break down sobbing in joy in front of her troop. After a few moments of silence, Peach finally regained her calm composure and looked up toward the communicator screen.

"This news is indeed very good now that we know Mario lives. Blurricks, keep up the great work and be sure to keep reporting back with updates. After all we sent you out to search for information concerning Bowsertron and his troop." she said.

"Will do, but I'm not sure how much a threat Bowsertron and his Decepticons could be at the bottom of the ocean, man you should have seen it! I had saw the whole thing and I was surprised that one Autobot managed to take down an entire ship, then again Miragetwo can turn in invisible and hey if he's invisible how can he even see where his gun is because wouldn't that be invisible too and how does nobody hear his footsteps I mean he's invisible not soundproof, and one more..." Blurricks rambled on, never slowing down her speech once.

Zeldia groaned as she pressed a button and cut off the communication call, knowing that if she hadn't done so, Blurricks would have continued to ramble on and they wouldn't be able to get her to hang up for a while. The blue femme turned toward Peach and smiled as she rested her servo on her shoulder.

"I guess this puts your processor at ease does this?" she asked.

Peach nodded her helm with a smile before replying "And with that thought that he's still alive, I'll use it to help me strive forward. After all, a good friend taught me that lesson a long time ago."

Back on Earth, Ness was sitting with Paula as she was helping him get a control on his psychic powers. Ever since the Autobots had saved both of them from death, the two children had been taken under their protection to insure that the Decepticons don't try to use them as leverage ever again. The two children were still allowed to return to their families but they had to do so with their assigned Autobot guardian.

"Okay Ness, you're getting better with PK Flash, but be careful not to blind anyone with that power." the young girl stated.

"Now you tell me." Ness replied with a groan, "I felt bad when I kind of accidentally used it on Espiowl and almost got his cover blown. I don't know how my mom and sister would have reacted to the sight of a giant robot in our backyard."

"By the way, how did your mom react when she saw you come home with a motorcycle?" Paula asked.

Ness smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck; he remembered that when he rode up to his house on Espiowl's motorcycle form, his mother panicked since she believed that a thirteen year-old shouldn't be on such a vehicle and demanded to know where he had got it only for him to nervously reply that it was given to him. He was relieved that over the months that his mother eventually came to accept that the young boy had a motorcycle and he was fine with that as long as she never discovered what it really was.

"So what about you, Paula? I imagine your parents had a lot of questions when you came out of Bulkmurray's car form when they thought you were still with your uncle." Ness replied.

Paula did her best to hide away her frown when she recalled her parent's encounter with the Autobot. By using technology known as holomatter, Bulkmurray managed to create a holomatter avatar of Paula's deceased uncle by scanning a picture Paula had of him. The young girl felt very depressed at the sight of seeing the uncle she knew was no longer among the living but chose to play along with the act in order to hide the Autobot's identity from her parents.

"Well they're still confused when Bulkmurray told them while using his holomatter avatar of my uncle that he would be leaving the car there and walking home since they don't see why he wouldn't drive home. I just hope that they don't discover that my uncle in reality is dead and the one they thought to be talking to is a fake." she finally said as she let out a deep sigh.

Ness frowned and began mindlessly digging the sole of his shoe into the ground. He had heard about how the Decepticons had killed Paula's uncle when he tried to get away and knew that she missed him very deeply. In an attempt to cheer her up, Ness suggested that they both could ask Luigibee to take them into town to buy some hot dogs from a local fast food restaurant he knew of.

"That actually sounds like a neat idea, Ness. Besides I am a little hungry." Paula replied with a small smile, happy that her friend was willing to cheer her up.

The young boy smiled back before grabbing the young girl by her wrist and guiding her out of the room.

Meanwhile in the city a young boy with blonde hair, wearing glasses, a white shirt, a green suit, black shoes and bowtie, and glasses walked into a large laboratory building. Once inside, the boy was caught off guard when he was tackled by a young girl with bright ginger hair, blue eyes, and wore a short yellow dress with orange boots and yellow tights.

"Ah, Jeff, you're finally back from school! I missed you!" the girl exclaimed as she hugged the boy tightly.

Jeff formed a smile on his face but did his best not to cringe from the painful hug he was receiving from his friend known as Daisy. The young boy had been friends with her ever since he discovered her in his father's lab one day. He remembered the confusion that filled his mind upon seeing the girl's sleeping form slumped in a chair while his father was sitting in the floor in shock as he constantly stared down at his hands. Jeff was awakened from his memories when Daisy's hug tightened, prompting him to yelp in pain.

"Whoops, got carried away again. Sorry, Jeff." Daisy apologized with an embarrassed grin as she released her friend.

Once free, Jeff stood back and began dusting off his suit. He always found it strange how Daisy seemed stronger than she looked since her hugs were always more painful than they should be.

"So, Daisy, do you know where my dad is? I wanted to get his opinion on a little science project I have been working on." he asked.

"Yeah, I think Dr. Andonuts is in his lab. I'll take you to him, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you and maybe you can convince him to let me out of the lab for once. It gets so boring with no one to talk to." the young girl replied.

Jeff nodded his head in agreement but before the two children could even take a single step, a large explosion went off and shook the entire building, causing them both to fall to the ground from the force. Panic ran through the young boy's mind as he quickly scampered onto his feet and made a mad dash for his father's lab. He knew the explosion had come from there and grew worried that maybe one of his father's experiments backfired on him. But once he reached the lab, he froze in shock at the sight before him. Standing in the lab was none other than Vectorwave with Marible standing in front of him while she had her blaster aimed at a man with white hair except for the top of his head that was bald, a white mustache, and wore a white lab coat, black pants, tie, and shoes, and glasses.

 _"Dad!"_ Jeff thought in worry as he remained hidden behind the door leading into the lab.

"Alright human, don't make any sudden movements and you might find yourself still intact." Marible smirked as she gestured her blaster a little closer to Dr. Andonuts' head.

Jeff was unsure what to do since he didn't know how he was supposed to take on two robots that were holding his father at gunpoint. Unfortunately the young boy didn't get to think about his situation for long because Daisy called out loudly for him as she run up to him, making sure that everyone was okay from the explosion. He tried to warn her about the robots in the lab but it was too late, the young girl's yells had already alerted the Decepticons to their presence.  
Vectorwave narrowed his optics at the two humans and was fixing to give Marible his command until he was alerted to a loud beeping sound.

Searching his systems, the blue mech discovered that the beeping came from his radar that was picking up readings that seemed to spike upon the appearance of the humans. Deciding to investigate, he activated his scan reader and scanned the two children. But when the results appeared in his visor, the Decepticon's optics widened in shock. At first he that it was a glitch in his systems and it was causing his readings to be faulty, but no matter how many times he rescanned, the results still came in the same.

"I can't believe these readings. It shouldn't even be possible. That girl must be presented to Lord Bowsertron, he needs to be alerted of this new information!" Vectorwave commented.

Daisy froze in fear when she heard this. She didn't know why the Decepticons wanted to take her. She was awakened from her shock when she felt Jeff grab ahold of her arm and began running away upon his father's urgent yells.  
Seeing that the two children were escaping, Vectorwave immediately released Huntage from his chest.

"Go after them and capture the girl while Marible and I continue to gather the necessary materials for the Space Bridge." he commanded.

The robotic dog barked in understanding before pursuing after the two children.

"Hey, Vectorwave, why you so interested in capturing that girl?" Marible asked as she pinned Dr. Andonuts against the wall with one hand, "I mean they're just younglings so I don't see how they can be a threat to the plan."

Instead answering, Vectorwave summoned the wire from his gauntlet and transferred the scan reading into the femme's processor.  
When Marible saw the readings, her mouth dropped up in disbelief. She couldn't believe the results were showing something that she believed couldn't even be possible. The femme stood in silence trying to process the new information she had received.

Finally after a few moments of silence, she spoke up saying "You're right, Bowsertron will want to know about this."


	9. Meetings

Chapter 9

Jeff and Daisy ran as fast as their legs could carry them, doing their best to try to outrun the robotic dog perusing them. The two children managed to make it outside, but unfortunately Huntage managed to lunge for Daisy's legs and send the girl tumbling to the ground. The young girl swung her fists frantically as the Decepticon grabbed her by the collar of her dress, doing everything in her power to get free. But then all of the sudden, Daisy heard the sound of gears shifting and the next thing she knew; she had been sent flying through the air.

The girl cried out as she went flying and squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for when she hits the ground. But she never felt the hard and painful impact, instead she felt herself get caught in two large metal hands. Curious about what had caught her, Daisy slowly opened her eyes to found herself staring at a large yellow and black robot. Upon seeing another giant robot like the one in the lab, the girl began to scream loudly.

Luigibee flinched when the girl in his servos started screaming before he quickly exclaimed "Hey, hey, stop doing that! I'm here to save you; I'm one of the good bots!"

When Daisy heard this, she immediately stopped screaming and stared up at the Autobot. At first she had no words to say as she slowly blinked her blue eyes, trying to process the information that there was both good and bad robots.

"By the way, I'm Luigibee." the yellow mech said with a grin.

Daisy couldn't help but grin back and reply "I'm Daisy."

Upon hearing this Luigibee furrowed his optic ridge a bit as he commented "Well I imagine you would be after a tumble like that through the air."

The young girl stared at him in silence for a moment before she began to laugh, realizing that the robot thought she said that she was dizzy before she corrected him on her name. Unfortunately the two were cut short on their chat when Huntage began firing his missiles at the two.  
Thinking fast Luigibee quickly set Daisy on the ground and changed his servos in stingers, destroying the missiles with electricity that fired from them. In an attempt to draw the robotic dog's attention away from the girl, the Autobot continued firing as he began running away from Daisy. Much to his happiness, Huntage was so enraged that the Autobot continued firing at him that he pursued him.

Daisy's grin grew larger and larger in excitement as she watched the two robots battle each other. Her attention was torn away from the two robots when she noticed Jeff running up to her with two children following closely behind him.

"Daisy, thank goodness you're alright. This here is Ness and Paula, they both explained to me that robot is an Autobot and the robots we saw in the lab were Decepticons." he explained as he gestured his hand out to the two children.

At that moment, Daisy gasped when she remembered how Dr. Andonuts was still being kept captive.

"Jeff, they still have your dad. We need to have Luigibee rush in and save him!" she exclaimed.

Before Jeff could even speak up, a voice spoke up "Or I can simply go in there."

The blonde-headed boy turned around to see a black motorcycle that transformed into a giant robot.  
Ness groaned as he slapped his hand against his forehead. He figured that Espiowl had followed them into town since the black mech took his job as his Autobot guardian very seriously and barely let the young boy out of his sights as a result of it.  
Without giving a chance for the children to explain the situation, using his stealth, Espiowl snuck into the lab.

The Autobot remained deadly silent as blend into the shadows, carefully making his way to his destination unseen. Making sure he was still hidden, he peeked around the corner to see Vectorwave gathering up the last of the materials while Marible still held Dr. Andonuts against the wall.

"Alright we got the stuff, what should we do with this human?" the purple femme asked.

"Dispose of him; he is of no use to us." Vectorwave answered.

Marible nodded her helm before grabbing one of her blasters attached to her back with her free servo and began charging it up.  
Seeing he needed to act fast, Espiowl quickly grabbed two of his gold ninja-stars from his gauntlet and shot them at the small femme, knocking the blaster out of her grasp. Knowing there was no need to stay hidden anymore now that the two Decepticons were alerted to his presence, the Autobot quickly leapt onto one of the nearby walls and began firing at the Vectorwave.

The blue mech managed to dodge the laserblasts and summon his own blaster from his subspace and fired back. Unfortunately for Vectorwave, when he fired at the Autobot, the moment the laserblast hit him, the image vanished upon impact, revealing to him that he had been firing at a decoy. His optics quickly looked all over, trying to find the real Espiowl until finally the he got his answer when Espiowl dropped down from the ceiling and kicked him straight in the helm.  
Seeing her comrade needed help, Marible quickly released Dr. Andonuts and changed her arms into pile drivers.

"Try to stay balanced on this Autobot!" she yelled as she smashed her pile drivers into the wall, causing the building to rumble.

Espiowl quickly dodged some debris that almost fell on him but he quickly noticed that part of the crumbling ceiling was going to fall on Dr. Andonuts. Wasting no time, he quickly dashed over and managed to toss the human out of the way of danger.  
Taking advantage of his distraction, Vectorwave charged up his blaster and fired it at close range, directly at Espiowl's chest.  
The Autobot yelled out as he smashed against the ground with a giant smoking hole in his chest.

Seeing it as his chance to escape, Vectorwave quickly recalled both Marible and Huntage and took off with the materials in tow. It didn't matter to him that Huntage had failed to capture Daisy; he knew the more important issue was getting the materials back to Bowsertron.  
Once the Decepticons were gone, Luigibee immediately rushed into the collapsing laboratory and found both Dr. Andonuts and an injured Espiowl. With his denta clenched, the yellow mech grabbed ahold of his comrade's arm and threw him on top of his back before scooping the human in his free servo. His optics glanced up at the ceiling that was just about to collapse before running as fast as he could, desperate to get out of the crumbling building. Fortunately Luigibee managed to get out just in time before the building collapsed into a pile of rubble.

"Dad!" Jeff cried out as he ran over to his father and embraced him once the Autobot set him back and the ground.

Knowing that Espiowl needed immediate attention, Luigibee immediately activated him commlink and informed Ratchet of their situation.

"Alright, Ratchet told me that we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Not only for Espiowl's sake but because humans will come to investigate the destroyed building and we can't let them see us." the yellow mech explained.

"I'll stay behind to give the authorities a story they can believe. It's the least I can do since your friend saved my life." Dr. Andonuts said.

Luigibee nodded his helm in understanding before transforming into his car form and pulling Espiowl up where his chest rested on top of the car. Once that was done, Ness and Paula urged both Jeff and Daisy for them to come along before all them climbed into the car, allowing the Autobot to finally speed off. Luigibee drove as fast as he could while at the same time he made sure that Espiowl didn't fall off. It wasn't long before he finally managed to reach the Ark. The yellow mech allowed the children to get out of his car form before transforming back into his bipedal form and rushing inside with Espiowl's chassis in his arms.

Daisy opened her mouth wide in wonder as she looked around the ship; her eyes examining all the advanced technology and the different Autobots standing among the ship. She didn't know why but she felt like she had seen the strange technology and Autobots before. Pushing this thought to the back of her mind, the young girl began running around the ship, deciding to absorb all of her surroundings.

As Daisy was doing this, Ness and Paula were doing their best to explain more about the Cybertronians to Jeff.

"So let me see if I got this straight." Jeff started with a sigh as he clasped his hands together, "These Autobots hail from a planet called Cybertron and they have been at war with an army known as the Decepticons. At some point the Autobots left their planet only to be chased by the Decpeticons and because of an accident, they ended up crash landing on our planet millions of years ago and because you accidentally reactivated one, now both factions are on our planet, still fighting the same war they fought on their planet."

"Well I wouldn't say war; I would more so say battle. Mario Prime said the war on Cybertron was much more vicious and he hopes that by stopping the Decpeticons now he can prevent the same devastation that fell upon their planet from coming to ours." Ness explained.

But before Jeff could ask another question, the three children were approached by none other than Ironlink.  
The red mech froze when he saw the third human before placing his servo against his helm and muttering curses where the children couldn't hear due to the fact he was frustrated that another human managed to learn of their existence when their leader had made it clear that they were to try to keep from as many humans from discovering them.

"Alright, who's fault is it that now this kid knows?" he asked with a sigh.

"The Decpeticons attacked him and his father. His father stayed behind to give the authorities a false explanation for the destroyed building." Paula answered.

"Slag, that means we need to assign another Autobot guardian for this kid, if this rate keeps up every Autobot on this ship will end up being a guardian. Well since Mario is busy right now, I guess it'll have to fall to me to decide." Ironlink replied.

The red mech looked around the command room, his processor sorting through the different choices. Finally his blue optics managed to spot Cliffalcon entering the room.

"Perfect, Cliffalcon, you're assigned as Autobot guardian to this kid here." Ironlink yelled out before pointing his digit at Jeff.

Cliffalcon stared in shock and confusion, but before he could even ask a single question, Ironlink had already walked away. The Autobot sighed in defeat before glancing down at the child he was now assigned to guard. He narrowed his optics and groaned since he had never asked to walk into a room and suddenly have a babysitter job dumped onto him.

Back with Daisy, the young girl had continued exploring the ship until she stumbled upon the Medbay. There she discovered Ratchet who was frantically working repairs on Espiowl to prevent him from going offline. Wanting to get a better look to make sure the Autobot was alright, the young girl walked up to the berth but was immediately disappointed that it was too high for her to see. But then, much to her surprise she felt a giant hand gently grasp her around the waist and lift her up onto the berth. Daisy turned around to see Luigibee giving her a friendly smile, revealing that he had helped her up.

She nodded her head in thanks before crawling over closer to Espiowl's chassis. She frowned at the sparks emitting from the damaged chestplates, making her grow more concerned at the fact the Autobot might not be able to pull through. Daisy sighed as she closed her eyes and gently laid her hand on Espiowl's chestplates. But because her eyes were closed, she failed to see a small blue glow seemed to emit from were here hand was placed. Suddenly her eyes snapped open to reveal they were now glowing as different thoughts ran through her mind.

After a few seconds, the glow in her eyes and under her hand faded away, prompting her to shake her head out of dizziness.

Once her thoughts were cleared once more, she turned her head toward Ratchet and asked "Uh hey, had you tried fixing this tube over here?"

Ratchet raised an optic ridge when he heard the girl's suggestion but decided to check it out. Upon examination he discovered that he had failed to notice that the blast had knocked his main energon line loose and he was losing energon from the inside. Now knowing the problem, the medic quickly grabbed one of his tools before securing the line once more. Within a few seconds, he sighed in relief when he saw that finally Espiowl's systems were starting to recover.

"How did you figure out that the tube was loose? One would have to an extremely good optic to notice that due to how deep the tube was behind Espiowl's other inner workings." Ratchet asked.

Daisy simply shrugged her shoulders as she answered "I don't know. It's kind of like Espiowl talked to me and told me exactly where the problem was when I got near."

Both Ratchet and Luigibee were extremely confused; they had no idea what the young girl meant and no matter how hard they thought about it, they couldn't come up with a conclusion.

Back with the Decepticons, Bowsertron had his troop locate to a nearby canyon where they were working on construction on Ganonwave's project which was device known as a Spacebridge which would allow the Decpticons to travel between Earth and Cybertron whenever they wish. Bowsertron grew impatient as he watched Skyreala, Thundernights, and Wartscream work on the construction for the Spacebridge. He had sent Vectorwave to gather the last of the materials and was infuriated that his third in-command had yet to return.

Finally the Decepticon Leader's waiting was put to rest when he saw Vectorwave approaching in the sky. His red optics narrowed in annoyance as he watched the blue mech land on the ground, dropping the materials before him.

"What took you so long, it should have taken you at least three breems for you to return with the materials but instead you were almost gone for a Megacycle!" Bowsertron demanded with a snarl.

Vectorwave flinched when he heard his leader so enraged with him. While he still wanted to tell the gray mech about his scan results, he decided to withhold that information until the Spacebridge was complete, that way he wouldn't have to worry about facing his leader's wrath for allowing himself to get sidetracked on his mission.

"Apologies, Lord Bowsertron, unfortunately I had to deal with a couple of Autobots that managed to show up. Fortunately Marible insured that the Autobots were unable to pursue me and I managed to escape with all the required materials." he answered.

Bowsertron clenched his razor sharp denta tightly together when he heard the mention of Autobots. He hated how much that Mario Prime and his team were so persistent to protect a planet they barely know anything about instead of doing what he believes is right by draining the planet completely of its energy and use it to save their dying race back on Cybertron. In Bowsertron's view, he didn't see Mario's need to protect all life as noble; he instead saw it as selfish and cowardly since the Prime would rather put an entire different race before his own kind.

After a few moments of silence, he shouted "Thundernights, how much longer till construction of the Spacebridge will be complete?"

The blue femme deactivated the laser from the blaster on her gauntlet that she was using to weld metal panels together before answering "Should take about five breems now that we got the last of materials. Then after that all is left it to test it to see if anything will make the trip to Cybertron."

"Hmph, testing, unbelievable." Wartscream commented with a sneer, "If I were to work on this Spacebridge alone without you imbeciles, it would be so perfect and grand that no testing would be required."

Upon hearing this Thundernights immediately narrowed her optics before placing one of her servos on her hip-joints.

"You know, Wartscream, there's a risk that Ganonwave explained but I guess your ego was so loud that you were unable to hear him. Spacebridges can sometimes not go over very well, resulting in the object being lost between space, torn apart from the entry and exit points, or sometimes the bridge can close on you the moment you try to exit, resulting in explosion. Now I don't like the idea of sending anyone to test it to insure nobody offlines, but if you're so sure, I'll gladly let you be the test subject. Just be sure to give Phoenix Prime my greetings in the Allspark if something goes wrong." the femme threatened.

All the other Decepticons, including Bowsertron himself stared in shock at the femme's threat. They knew that she always did her best to avoid any Cybertronian from getting their spark extinguished due to her love for living things but the fact that Wartscream managed to enrage her enough to the point she made a thinly-veiled death threat surprised them all.

"Uh, there's no need for that, Thundernights, after all you're the one who talks about how it's important for us not to die since we're already a dying race." the red and gray mech replied while laughing nervously as the blue femme continued to glare at him.

All the Decepticons continued to stare in silence until finally Skyreala commented "And to think that I never thought she could think like a Decepticon. Heh, I guess Knockster was right, the cute femmes are the most deadly."

The group continued to stare in silence until finally Bowsertron yelled "Alright that's enough, get back to work so we can finish this Spacebridge. The last thing we all need is standing around like slaggers until the Autobots show up and ruins our plans for the millionth time!"

So with that said, the Decepticons immediately got back to work to finish the completion of the Spacebridge.


	10. The Spacebridge

Chapter 10

Back at the Ark, Mario Prime was informed by both Luigibee and the now fully repaired Espiowl about that attack on the laboratory by Vectorwave. Daisy was sitting on Luigibee's shoulder with a smile as she mindlessly kicked around her legs, listening to the mechs discuss about what the Decepticons could possibly be planning. She found it strange how she found herself drawn to the Autobots so quickly but decided to chalk it up as her being excited about having new friends since for the longest time Jeff was her only friend due to Dr. Andonuts keeping her in the lab all the time.

"But I didn't know about the materials, when I arrived Huntage was trying to catch Daisy over here." the yellow mech explained as he gestured his servo toward the young girl.

"Were the Decepticons planning to use her as a hostage like how they did with Paula?" Mario asked.

"No they already captured the boy's father and even if Vectorwave wanted more hostages, he would have sent Huntage after the boy as well, but instead he singled out the girl alone." Espiowl replied.

Mario sighed as he crossed his arms in thought. While he couldn't figure out the reason for why Vectorwave wanted to deliver a young girl into Bowsertron's grasp, he did know that it was important to keep the girl safe.

"Well until we figure this out I suggest we just keep her here for safety, might be too dangerous to have her out in the open if the Decepticons want her that badly. But I still need to assign her an Autobot guardian just to be safe." he finally said.

"Oh can my guardian be, Luigibee? Oh please, please, please pick him!" Daisy exclaimed as she leaned over and hugged her body against his helm much to the yellow mech's embarrassment.

The two other mechs looked at each other, surprised by the girl's outburst since none of the other human children requested a certain Autobot as a guardian. Seeing how fond Daisy was already to the Autobot, Mario agreed to her request.  
Daisy shouted happily in happiness, prompting Luigibee to grab his helm in pain due to the fact she had yelled right next to his audio receptor. The young girl smiled for a second, unware that her eyes glowed blue for a second as a small glow emitted from her hands. When the glow cleared away, she blinked her eyes rapidly before glancing at Luigibee's audio receptor.

"Whoops, guess I yelled a little too loudly, your audio receptors got a little short circuit problem. I'm sure Ratchet can fix that though." she apologized with a small grin.

Luigibee turned his helm toward the young girl, his optics widening in shock as he checked his systems to discover that she was indeed right, the yell had short-circuited his audio receptor.

"How did you find that out?" he asked.

Daisy only simply shrugged her shoulders as she answered "It's like what I told Ratchet, it kind of felt like you told me the problem."

Luigibee stared in confusion; he couldn't figure out how he could have told her about the problem in his system without having to utter a single word to her. He wondered if she was psychic like Ness and Paula but he dismissed that theory when he remembered that the two children hadn't shown any signs of knowing system damage with their power and it seemed that the two children could only hear the Matrix of Leadership briefly but not often due to the two of them being neither Cybertronian nor a Prime. His thought processor sorted through the different possibilities on how Daisy knew but in the end he decided to ignore it before making his way to the Medbay with Daisy still on his shoulder.

"So with that out of the way, I'm going head out with Jazzden and Trailston to see if I can track down Bowsertron. Ironlink will be left in charge until I return." Mario commanded.

But before the Prime could even take a step Espiowl grabbed him by the arm and said "Wait, you'll probably need me to go as well."

The red and blue mech shook his head as he replied "No, Espiowl, I need you to stay here. Your systems might not be repaired completely and because I know how you hate leaving Ness out of your sight. Besides Jazzden should be able to fulfill our stealth needs, you both were trained by Lucariotron before he sadly joined the AllSpark thanks to the Decepticons."

The black and gold mech fell silent as he slowly allowed his servo to release Mario's arm. Without a word he left the room with his servos clenched, hating the fact he had he was unable to help his leader because of a responsibility he had chosen to willingly carry.

Back on Cybertron, Ganonwave was having his troops set up Spacebridge exit gate and control panel since in order for travel to be successful from between Earth and Cybertron; they needed two gates to create a pathway that would bridge the two worlds together. He remained focused on the task until he heard the sound of a jet approaching. The purple mech turned around to see Slipenelope changing back into her bipedal form as she landed on the ground.

"So how did the attack on the Autobot base go?" he asked.

Slipenelope snarled in frustration before answering "I don't know what happened but something has renewed the Autobot troop's hope. They fought even more than ever before; the result was quite a few casualties on both sides. As for the two Dinobots, I didn't see them on the battlefield, my guess is Peach-One is having them under much more protection after she finally seen the alterations you had preformed on Yoshilock's team."

Ganonwave's gold optics narrowed but he didn't utter a single word. For months he had been sending out troops not only to crush the last of the Autobot forces but to also get back the two Dinobots that had been freed from his lab so he could implant the chips into their processors like he had done to the others.  
Because of this silence, Slipenelope grew very nervous and did her best to try to ignore the hateful gold gaze that almost seemed like they were trying to burn into her processor. Fortunately fate was kind to her when the communicator screen lit up to reveal none other Bowsertron.

"Ganonwave, the Spacebridge gate has been built on Earth, has construction of the Gate on Cybertron been completed?" the gray mech demanded.

Ganonwave turned toward the screen and clasped both of his servos behind his back, making sure he looked a respectful as possible.

"It shall be completed only in the matter of a few cycles, then you may proceed to test the Spacebridge to see if it is stable." he answered.

But before Bowsertron could even reply, Skyreala yelled "Bowsertron, my scanners are picking up some nearby Autobot signals about twenty kliks south of us!"

The gray mech nodded his helm in understanding before ordering Wartscream to take both Thundernights and Skyreala to investigate. Once that was done, he insured Ganonwave that if things went well he should have the perfect test subject for the Spacebridge before cutting off communications.  
The purple mech was very pleased to hear this as he typed in in the control panel to pull up the camera footage of Yoshilock and his two comrades Pledge and Klag placed into stasis in glass tubes.

"If the Spacebridge is a success, I may get to send my pets into the battlefield sooner that I thought." he muttered to himself.

Back on Earth, Mario was in his semi-truck form along with Jazzden who's vehicle form was a white car and Trailston's who's vehicle form was a black van, scouting the area around the canyons. They received a reading of strange power levels near that area from the ship's computer Mastertran-1, leaving Mario to believe that it had to be emitting from whatever the Decepticons needed the materials they had stolen from the lab to build. The Prime remained silent as he constantly checked his surroundings, looking for any sign of the enemy. Finally his theories about the Decepticons being nearby were confirmed when he saw three jets zoom through the sky above them and before taking a sharp turn and diving toward them.

"Take them down, but avoid enemy fire!" Mario commanded before he quickly changed back to his bipedal form and summoned his ion blaster.

The red and blue mech clenched his servos around his blaster tightly as he fired at the three jets, making sure that his shots would damage them but not to the point of killing them. But much to his frustration the three jets managed to dodge and weave, successfully avoiding the shots fired at them.  
Jazzden hit his breaks, caused himself to slid sideways on the dirt as he pulled back the roof of his car to reveal large speakers. He chuckled as he started playing loud music that caused soundwaves to blast from his stereo speakers.

If he was in his bipedal form, Jazzden would had smirked at the sight of seeing the jets start to shake and wobble, unable to maintain flight due to the sonicwaves interfering with their systems. He kept playing the music until finally the three jets sped toward the ground and transformed back into their bipedal forms.

"We got them now!" Jazzden yelled as he transformed.

Mario nodded before firing his ion blaster once more; forcing the three Decepticons to take cover behind on of the nearby canyon walls.

"Any more bright ideas, Wartscream? You were the one that thought it was so brilliant to dive toward them instead of just firing at them like I wanted!" Skyreala snapped in anger.

"Don't blame me for this, my plan was brilliant. It was this scrap heap over here of a Decepticon with her whole 'Oh don't offline them, we're a dying race after all!' that I wasn't able to do anything!" Wartscream hissed as he jabbed his servo toward Thundernights, prompting the femme to glare at him.

Thundernights hated that she had to continue serving a side that seemed to despise her ideals, especially since the only reason she chose to side with them was to keep Skyreala in line and she knew that was something she had to do even more after the mech killed the human she had tried to save.  
After he finished arguing with his comrade, Wartscream glanced around the corner to see Mario with his Ion Blaster still ready to fire while Jazzden had his speakers out in case the three tried to take to the sky again. His red optics frantically darted around, searching for anything that could provide him an advantage.

He kept searching until finally he noticed a group of large boulders on the edge of the cliff above the Autobots. With a sly grin, the Decepticon charged up his null-rays on his gauntlets before quickly jumping away from the canyon wall and fired at the boulders. The blast caused the part of the canyon wall holding up the boulders to crumble and send the rocks tumbling toward the Autobots.  
Mario turned around and his optics widened when he saw the rocks falling toward them. Thinking fast he ordered his comrades to quickly make a run for it. The Prime ran as fast as he could, firing at the occasionally boulder that had almost fallen on them while Trailston summoned his forcefeild. Unfortunately because the Autobots were so busy trying to deal with the boulders, they no longer had their attention directed toward the Decepticons.

Taking advantage of this, Wartscream fired his null-ray at the Prime.  
Mario yelled out as he felt his systems began rapidly shutting down and his chassis smash against the ground. When he saw Jazzden and Trailston run toward his aid, he tried to alert them to Wartscream but unfortunately the null-ray had temporarily deactivated his voice box, forcing him to watch as they were shot with the null-ray as well, causing them to fall in stasis. He clenched his teeth, desperately trying to stand up once more only to find himself flipped onto his back where he saw the three Decepticons now standing over him.

"Lights out, Mario Prime." Wartscream sneered before punching the Autobot leader's face, knocking him unconscious.

Back at the Ark, Espiowl grumbled to himself as he paced around in his room, anxious to go after Mario to help him but resisted the urge due to the fact he had orders to remain with the ship. He kept pacing until he heard the sound of a small knock coming from his door. With an annoyed sigh he pressed his servo against a panel, prompting the door to slide open to reveal Ness.

"Uh hey, Espiowl, is it alright if I come in?" the young boy asked.

The black and gold mech didn't reply but instead stepped aside, allowing the young boy to enter his room.  
Once inside Ness' mouth opened slightly in surprise when he saw there was a large hole in his room, most likely created from when the ship had crashed landed which allowed a large tree to grow over the many million years the ship rested.

"I guess when you woke up you weren't too happy to discover that tree was now in your room." Ness said.

Espiowl glanced over at the tree and rested his servo on one of the branches before replying "Actually I was pleasantly surprised by its existence. In truth your whole planet interests me with how rich it is with its beautiful nature. Cybertron once had something similar to your nature, well while it wasn't organic, it was still quite beautiful. My old master Lucariotron use to train me there, but sadly the war has long since destroyed it. So seeing a planet that has managed to have so much life is touching to see after seeing a battle torn and dying planet for so long."

Ness frowned when he heard this; he now understood why the Autobot had willingly accepted becoming his guardian. While part of it was because he knew that Espiowl would never question Mario's orders, he now knew the other part was because the mech wanted to experience more that Earth had to offer. But before he could say another word, Wheelegad poked his helm through the door way, exclaiming how they had lost Mario's, Jazzden's, and Trailston's signals. Wasting no time, Espiowl quickly scooped up Ness into his servo before darting out of his room and made his way to the main control room.

Once he reached his destination he saw Wheelegad constantly typing at the control panel while Ironlink leaned on it with one servo and his optics narrowed.

"I'm doing everything I can but I can't locate them. I know they aren't offline because I'm still getting readings from their sparks but that won't help me locate them." the white mech said with a frown.

"Well what's Mastertran-1's recording of their last known coordinates?" Ironlink asked.

"Hmm, according to Mastertan-1, they were thirty-five kliks northwest before we lost their signals. That's about twenty-kliks south of those strange readings Mastertran-1 was picking up." Wheelegad explained as he pointed his digit to the exact spot on the map.

Espiowl silently memorized the coordinates in his processor before silently leaving the room. He intended to go investigate himself and see if he could locate his leader and his troop. He set Ness on the ground, knowing it was wise to leave the child behind to stay out of danger so he wouldn't be at risk of being used as a hostage. Without another word he transformed into his motorcycle form, creating a holoform of a human man wearing a black racing jacket, pants, boots, and a purple helmet on the top of his motorcycle form before speeding off.

Mario Prime groaned as his optics slowly came online, the static clearing away to reveal Bowsertron standing before him.

"Glad to see you're finally awake, Prime." the gray mech smirked before laughing.

Upon seeing this, Mario immediately tried to stand up only to discover his arms and legs were strapped together with a pair of energy cuffs, preventing him from moving. He turned his helm to his left to see both Jazzden and Trailston were in the same state.

"I must admit, I was stunned when you were among the group of Autobot intruders." Bowsertron began to taunt, prompting the mech to direct his attention toward him once more, "But none the less, I'm very happy that you showed up when you did. See my troop having been building a little something called a Spacebridge that will grant me access to Cybertron any time I wish."

Mario clenched his denta in anger, he couldn't believe the Decepticons that he tried so desperately to keep trapped on Earth still managed to find a way to escape the planet and drain Earth of its energy only to give it to Cybertron.

"But unfortunately due to this being technology we have never dealt with before, we're not sure if things will go smoothly." Bowsertron continued, "We need a test subject but since you're here I believe we have found exactly what we need. Be happy, Prime, you're going to be the first Spacebridge traveler and if you happen to die during the test, well I'll always have your autobots friends here to test it as well."

The gray mech laughed until he heard Vectorwave inform him how the bridge was ready for testing. A dark smirk formed on his face as he grabbed the Autobot leader by his neck, lifting him off of the ground and ordering his third in-command to start up the Spacebridge.  
Mario desperately struggled to free himself of his bonds as Bowsertron began to approach the Spacebridge gate. His optics widened in fear as he heard the gate began to buzz before a bright light shot forth from it toward the sky. Without warning Bowsertron jerked him where he was forced to stare at him, optic to optic.

"Even if you do manage to survive, I ordered Ganonwave who will be waiting on the other side to extinguish your spark upon arrival. So with that said, send my greetings to Phoenix Prime in the AllSpark." he stated, his voice filled with hateful venom.

Mario yelled out as Bowsertron tossed his chassis and sent it flying toward the Spacebridge. But before he could even make contact with the light emitting from the gate, a gold ninja star flew through the air and sliced the energy cuffs holding his servos together. With his servos free, the Prime managed to grab ahold of the edge of the gate and swing himself around where he landed safely back on the ground.

Bowsertron yelled in rage, turning around to see none other than Espiowl holding another gold ninja-star in his servos.

"Don't just stand around, get him! I'll deal with Prime!" the grey mech commanded before changing one of his servos into his ball and chain.

Mario quickly changed his servo into his energy axe and used it the break the cuffs holding his legs together. Fortunately he did this in time because when he lifted his helm up, he saw the Decpeticon leader charging toward him while swinging his ball and chain. The red and blue mech narrowed his optics before charging toward his opponent and clashing his weapon against his.  
While the two leaders fought, Espiowl quickly ran over to Jazzden and Trailston and freed the both of them from their cuffs.

"Heh, I always know to count on you, Espiowl, even back on Cybertron you always got me out of trouble." Jazzden smirked.

Espiowl sighed in annoyance before replying "Shut up and focus on our opponents."

The Autobots and Decepticons fought with all their might while the Spacebridge continued to shoot its light toward the sky. Bowsertron yelled as he smashed down his spiked ball only for the Prime to swiftly roll out of the way of the attacks. Tired of using his current weapon, the Decepticon leader charged up his Fusion Cannon with the full intent of blasting the autobot leader in his chestplates and extinguishing his spark.  
Thinking fast Mario quickly ran up to the gray mech and slammed his chassis against him. But because he had smashed him so hard, this caused Bowsertron to go flying into the Spacebridge gate.

The Decpeticon Leader didn't have enough time to react before he yelled out as he fell into the light. Once he fell in, the gate emitted a bright flash along with strong force that knocked all the Cybertronians to the ground. When the light faded, the Spacebridge stopped firing the ray of light and revealed no sign of Bowsertron anywhere.

A huge grin formed on Wartscream's face as he declared "Bowsertron, is gone! Yes, now I'm Leader of the Decepticons!"

"Alright 'leader' then what do we do now?" Skyreala asked in both a sarcastic and annoyed tone.

The red and gray mech was confused by this until he noticed all the Autobots armed with their blasters, charged up to fire, and had them aimed toward them.

"Skyreala, that's a very good question because as your new wise and great leader I have this to say..." Wartscream started as he pointed his servo in the air.

The Decpeticons stood in silence, waiting for what the mech had to say until not much to their surprise, Wartscream transformed into his jet form and took off while screaming to retreat. All the Decepticons groaned in frustration before taking off as well, leaving the Autobots behind.  
But unaware to anyone, back on Cybertron, Ganonwave waited patiently at the Spacebridge doorway, waiting for the test subject. The gate's door slid open and much to the mech's surprise he saw none other than Bowsertron sitting in the floor with a ticked off look on his face and his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"Wait, I thought you said Mario Prime was going to be the test subject! What happened?" Ganonwave exclaimed in shock.

Bowsertron let a snarl of anger escape his mouth before he answered "Don't even ask."


	11. Reunions

Chapter 11

Zeldia sighed as her servos unconsciously lay on top of her chestplates. She held it there for a few seconds until she heard the sounds of footprints approaching her. Quickly she straightened up her appearance, forming a stern look on her face until she turned and saw it was none other than Peach approaching her. Seeing it was only her close friend, the blue femme let her shoulders slump as her stern expression faded away to reveal one of slight worry. she never let the other autobots let onto her worry but only for her best friend did she lower her walls and let her true feelings shine through.

"Miss your sparkmate?" Peach asked as she sat down next to her friend.

The blue femme nodded her helm before answering "It kind of gets pretty painful sometimes. It's like a half of my spark is missing since we weren't able to renew our sparkbond due to our separation that has spanned over the many vorns. I know Blurricks confirmed that he is alive along with the rest of Mario Prime's troop, but that isn't good enough for me. I need to see him with my own optics, I need to feel his chassis, and I need to sense his spark just all so I can put my processor to rest."

Peach frowned as she rested her servo on top of Zeldia shoulder. While she wasn't bonded to Mario, she could understand how someone would feel for being separated for so long from their sparkmate. She shuttered her optics as her thoughts traveled back to the Prime, prompting her to clutch her free servos into a fist. She was truly happy when she received the news of Mario's survival, but apart of her wanted to be before him and hold on to him tight as if it would prevent him from disappearing from her life again.

"Zeldia, I promise once we found a way, I'll make sure you see Ironlink again." she insured as she reactivated her optics.

Zeldia couldn't help but form a small smile before replying "And I'm sure when Mario sees you again, he'll be overjoyed. It still amazes me that you two didn't open up your sparks to each other and forged a bond that would connect you on a whole new level like I did with Ironlink."

Upon hearing this, Peach frowned. In truth she did want to become the Prime's sparkmate just as much as he wanted to become hers. But they both decided for the sake of the war they would withhold such thoughts because if they were to bond and one of them die, it would only result in the other's death, costing the Autobot army two leaders. The two femmes were stirred from their thoughts when Mooncreamer ran up to them and announced that they had received incoming communications from Blurricks. Peach nodded her helm before standing back up with and heading to the Command Center.

Once they reached their destination, Peach walked up to the control panel and said "Alright, Blurricks, I'm here. What's your status?"

"Oh you finally respond! I've been trying to call you for about ten breems! You wouldn't believe what happened, remember how I mentioned before that I had no idea how much Bowsertron could do from an ocean, well apparently he can do a lot, who knew you can turn a crashed ship into an underwater base? I certainly never imagined that. Great now I have to be careful around fish, they could be spies. Wait can the Decpeticons take on a fish form? Then again Sharkticons do exist..." Blurricks quickly replied before beginning one of her rambles.

"Blurricks, get to the point!" Zeldia shouted, interrupting the blue femme.

"My point... oh right my point! The Decepticons have built a device that can connect Cybertron to Earth called a Space Bridge. So Bowsertron may be on Cybertron right now!" Blurricks exclaimed after she took a moment to stare in confusion.

"With something like that, Bowsertron will not only be allowed to travel between Earth and Cybertron as he pleases but he would be able to provide reinforcements and provide his troops with the energon that collected on Earth. We'll end up losing the war." Mooncreamer stated.

"Then we need to act now. Zeldia, get all the information you can about the Spacebridge from Blurricks in the mean time, I'm going to pay a visit to our two scientists." Peach commanded.

Zeldia nodded her helm before she continued the discussion with the blue femme. Meanwhile Peach left the Command Room with her servos clenched and made her way to the Lab section of the base. Once there she was greeted with the sight of two femmes, the first one was designed to look like a Lombax like Ratchet with turquoise optics, a blonde metal ponytail with brown stripes attached to her green helm, green and white chestplates, green arms, hip plating, and boots, white gauntlets, and yellow-green servos, midriff, and legs. The second one had green optics, orange boots, and helm, orange and purple chestplates, and pink legs.

"Angelight and Keiracer, I'm going to need both of you for a mission. The Decpeticons have built a device called a Spacebridge that will grant them travel from Cybertron to a planet called Earth. I need one of you to accompany to not only get the plans but to use the Spacebridge to Earth so that way we can build a gate for Mario Prime, meanwhile the one that stays here shall help with the construction of the Spacebridge gate in our base that way we can provide Mario with reinforcements if he so ever chooses to do so." she stated.

The two femmes turned toward each other and both nodded before the faced their commander once more and Angelight spoke up "I shall be the one to accompany you Peach-One."

Peach frowned upon hearing this before commenting "Are you sure, Angelight? You hadn't been the same since you and Ratchet were recovered from the Decepticon prison, many of your memory logs were wiped out from an event that Ratchet refuses to speak about."

"My memory logs may be mostly wiped, but I still have my primary programming as a scientist. Besides, I want to go to Earth, there's questions that I need answered." the green femme replied.

The femme commander remained silent before nodded her helm in understanding. With the plan set she gathered up a small troop consisting of herself, Angelight, Zeldia, Calliester, and Jetpit. Despite their usefulness even with their new found forms, Peach had chosen for Swoopdo and Snarldile to remain in the safety of the Autobot Base in order to evade capture since she knew taking them straight back to where Ganonwave's lab was located was too risky since they could end up getting recaptured by the Decepticon Scientist.

"Alright Autobots, transform and roll out!" she declared, proudly using the Prime's battle cry before transforming into a futuristic-looking pink car.

The rest of the troop transformed as well into their vehicle forms before speeding away from the base with their commander.

Back on Earth, Wartscream and his troops returned to their underwater base injured with many tears in their armors and gashes that were constantly leaking energon.

"Let's collect energon from the Power Generator, you said! It'll be easy, you said! The Autobots don't stand a chance against us, you said! Well tell that to Bulkmurray and his giant wrecking ball! Ugh it's going to take cycles just to straighten out my bent wing!" Skyreala mocked in anger as he glared at the self-declared Decepticon leader.

"Hey at least you weren't the one rammed into by Jetstreak during their escape and was sent flying through the air only to land on Wartscream!" Vectorwave complained, "Not to mention that my cassettes need repairs too since Wartscream used Marible as a shield!"

"Well I couldn't risk getting hit; I am your leader after all!" Wartscream argued back.

"Do you realize how much damage could have been done to her processor all because of that blast to the helm you forced her to take!" the blue and white mech.

"Honestly, why are you worried about that pipsqueak's state? Wasn't she just some Autobot you snatched during a battle and with a little reprogramming you made her a Decepticon? So why worry, you already pretty much screwed up her processor." Skyreala mocked with a smirk.

Vectorwave snarled but before he could even lunge at the black and purple mech, Thundernights immediately held him back while shouting about how they shouldn't be at each other's throats. He snorted in anger before shoving the blue femme away from him and storming off to his room. Once there he immediately ejected Marible, Huntage, and Laserduck from his chest before getting out medical supplies. He got out some scrap metal and a welding torch before kneeling down next to Marible who lay unconscious with a giant hole on the front of her helm that exposed her processor, broken wires, and constantly leaked energon. He was thankful that the blast didn't manage to damage the inner workings of helm before he began working repairs.

As he did this, he heard the door to his room open and footprints slowly approach behind him.

"What do you want, Thundernights?" he asked, not even having to look to know it was the femme since she was the only one he knew that would bother checking up on him.

"Skyreala and Wartscream got into a fist fight. I'll make a bet that our so called leader will lose and try to label Skyreala as a traitor. So instead of hearing his audio receptor breaking screams, I thought I would help you out with your repairs on your cassette troops." she replied as she leaned her shoulder against the wall.

Vectorwave remained silent for a few seconds before pointing his digits to the medical supplies on the floor next to him and saying "A few of Huntage's joint bolts were knocked loss and are gathered her on the berth next to him. I suggest grabbing the wrench I'm pointing at and tightening the bolts back in."

Thundernights pushed herself off of the wall and kneeled down next to the blue mech before snatching up the wrench and grabbed a couple of bolts. As she began putting one of the bolts in place, she glanced over at Vectorwave and watched how he was carefully reconnecting a couple of severed wires in Marible's helm while being mindful of the sparks as to not cause more damage.

"You know, I like how much you care for you cassette troops. You one of the few Decepticons I know that genuinely cares about something." she commented.

The blue mech sighed partly out of annoyance before replying "It's simple, I look out for them and they look out for me. They even continue to help me even without their other comrades that Wartscream forced me to leave back on Cybertron. If Mightzy, Buzzcharmy, and Cybat were still here then we would more likely to see more efficiant results against the autobots."

Thundernights remained silent as her blue optics examined the unconscious purple femme. She still remembered the day when Vectorwave first carried the unconscious purple femme in his arms to the Decepticon Base back on Cybertron and requested their medic Knockster to have her processor reprogrammed and her stored memory logs erased. Many were wondering why the blue mech had captured and reformed an Autobot into a Decepticon when in the past he would offline any Autobot he encountered. But much to their shock, Vectorwave had refused to explain his reasons, not even to Bowsertron himself who he was extremely loyal to. The only reason the Decepticon Leader decided to brush it off was because he found Marible to be a valuable asset.

The two continued silently to work on repairs until they heard Wartscream yelp in fear. Deciding to investigate, they left the room and entered the main Command Center where much to their surprise they saw none other than Bowsertron with rage burning in his red optics and he held Wartscream up by his throat.

"Why am I not surprised in the least that you once again decided to declare yourself as leader in my absence when your scrap heap of a processor should know that I would not let myself offline to a Spacebridge gate!" he yelled as he shook around Wartscream's chassis.

Skyreala was doing his best to hide away his snickers of amusement. At first he was shocked to see his leader emerge from the ship's entry way but quickly found his appearance hilarious since Bowsertron had walked in just in time to hear Wartscream shouting about how he should be treated with more respect as the self-declared Leader of the Decepticons.

"Kind of wish I had a camera right now, you know it would be convenient if we had a Decepticon that could turn into a camera." the black and purple mech commented.

Thundernights blinked in confusion at the comment before asking "How would a camera be useful? Honestly we already have Laserduck to cover visuals, so what good would a camera do?"

"To take pictures of moments like this of course!" Skyreala answered with a smirk.

Back on Cybertron, Peach cycled air through her vents in an attempt to calm her nerves. Her troop had successfully made it inside the Decepticon Base but she knew the next step was making their way to the main control room and activate the Spacebridge. Making sure to remain silent, the pink femme summoned her blaster from subspace while signaling with her free servos for her troop to follow. The rest of the Autobots armed themselves with their respective weapons before following their commander. The group snuck along the shadows being very weary of the Decepticon Soldiers that patrolled the base.

Fortunately it wasn't long till they finally reached the main control room. Wasting no time, Peach quickly ordered her troop to lock up as many entry ways as possible while she figured out how to start up the Spacebridge and Angelight searched up and downloaded the blueprints for the Spacebridge gate. Her digits rapidly tapped away the keyboard while her processor frantically sorted through different code commands. She kept typing until she heard the yelling and smashing against the locked door.

"Peach, we need to get that Spacebridge up now. The Decepticons will break in here at any second and if we're still here when they do then we'll have a major problem on our servos!" Zeldia urged.

"I know but I have to get the start up sequence right or I could even risk creating a black hole according to Keiracer." Peach explained as she continued typing in codes.

The banging grew more and more frequent, encouraging the femme commander to keep typing in codes until finally the gate came to life with a loud hum sound and the pod doors slid open.

"Go, I'll be right behind you!" she yelled.

Zeldia nodded before she and the rest of the troop dashed into the Spacebridge.  
Peach stepped away from the panel just in time for the doors to burst open with a blast, revealing none other than Ganonwave in his giant laser gun form with four Decepticon soldiers behind him. Thinking fast, the femme slammed her servos onto the button to close the pod doors before making a made dash for the Spacebridge. She clenched her denta as Ganonwave fired at her while still in his gun form. She was about to make it to the pod but unfortunately, because she was so focused on trying to make it to the Spacebridge before the doors closed, she failed to dodge the last laser blast.

Peach cried at as she felt the blast create a large hole in the side of her midriff as she collapsed before the Spacebridge pod.

"Peach!" Zeldia cried out in worry as she dashed out to her fallen comrade.

Using all her strength, she managed to grab the pink femme by her arms and pull her inside the pod just in time before the pod doors closed. A bright flash emitted from the pod along with a force that shook the entire lab. By the time the Decepticon troops reopened the pod, the Autobots were already gone, signifying they had been transported to Earth.  
Ganonwave snarled in frustration as he transformed back into his bipedal form, angry that he had failed to capture the Autobots. But then he directed his gold optics to the energon that had spilt from Peach's wound on the floor.

Without a word, the purple mech kneeled down to the ground a summoned a small glass tube and gathered some of the energon into it.

"Well they may have gotten away, but perhaps Peach-One's energon might provide useful for a future experiment." he muttered to himself.

Back at the Ark, Cliffalcon remained silent as he watched Jeff race a red RC car around the base. Over the past few days he was slowly getting use to his new duty as an Autobot Guardian and learned how he young boy under his protection seemed to have an interest in technology.

"So exactly what is that thing again?" he asked out of curiosity.

Jeff glanced up at the red mech as he answered "It's an RC race car, the RC stands for Remote Control which is what I have in my hand in here. Humans usually get RC cars to play with for fun. I do that as well with it but I also like to use it for recon sometimes with the small camera I've installed inside it."

"Wait so you're saying that thing can film, like Laserduck can?" Cliffalcon asked out of surprise.

The blonde-headed boy nodded his head before placing his controller down and grabbing his backpack. It only took him a few seconds to pull out his laptop and pull up the correct program before turning to the autobot and showing none other than themselves on screen.  
Cliffalcon raised an optic ridge out of impressment; he was amazed at how smart the young boy was compared to his other human companions his age. But before he could even ask more, the sound of Megahound's yelling for everyone to come outside of the ark gained his attention. Wasting no time, the red mech along with the other autobots raced outside and was shocked with the sight they were greeted with.

Before them approached none other than Peach and her troop. Calliester cried out in happiness as she ran up to Cuffer, sobbing happily as she threw her arms around him, glad to see that her grandfather was still alive. Cliffalcon and Megahound both greeted Jetpit with pats on the back, commenting about how things had been pretty quiet without him around. Ratchet stared in shock when he saw Angelight approach him, unable to say words as she stopped in front of him and gave a small smile. Ironlink shoved his way to the front of the ground and when he saw Zeldia, he immediately sent his love and happiness to her spark through his bond. When Zeldia felt this, she gasped before turning toward the red mech.

"Link!" the blue femme cried out her sparkmate's nickname as she ran to him with arms swung wide and tackled him to the ground.

Ironlink wasn't able to utter a single word as his sparkmate yelled at him how she wanted to rip out his manifolds for going missing for so long before silencing him with a short kiss and explaining how that the more important thing was that she was reunited with him and that after being so many years apart, they could finally renew their sparkbond. Upon hearing this, Ironlink couldn't help but form a sly smirk on his face before telling her how he wanted to show her his shooting gallery. Without a word, the couple got up and left with sly smirks still painted on their faces.

"Please don't tell me he intends to renew the bond in the shooting gallery, if so remind me to avoid it for a good number of Mega-Cycles." Windike muttered to Bulkmurray.

"Knowing him, he would." the large green mech replied with a sigh.

Peach stood in front of the crowd, never moving from her spot until finally she saw all the Autobots fall silent as their Prime emerged from the Ark.  
Mario felt like his spark stopped pulsing when his optics spotted the femme before him. He was in so much shock that he failed to realize he had started unconsciously walking toward her. His vents constantly cycled in air more and more frequently as he grew closer and closer to the femme until finally he found himself standing before the femme he loved with all his spark.

Peach smiled as the red and blue mech before reached out his servo and gently placed it against her face. This prompted her to sigh as she shuttered her optics and laid her servo atop his; she had greatly missed his touch after being separated from him for so many years. When she reactivated her optics, she leaned her helm against Mario's where their crests gently touched.  
The Prime's blue optics glanced down at the femme's chassis, taking in every detail he had almost forgotten. It was then he noticed how Peach was holding her other servo over the large wound in the side of her midriff.

"You're hurt." he stated with a frown.

Peach only smiled before glancing up and replying "It was worth it to see you again. Mario, it's been too long. I..."

But the femme found herself interrupted as the mech before her placed a single digit over her mouth before pointing out she needed medical attention.  
Upon hearing this, Peach let a small chuckle escape her mouth before nodding her helm in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keira (J&D) - Lancer  
> Angela Cross - Greenlight  
> Pit (KI) - Jetstorm


	12. Bonds

Chapter 12

Peach remained silent as she sat on the metal berth, watching as Mario dug through Wheelegad's tools trying to find the welder. Normally the Prime would have Ratchet do repairs but he chose against it for two reasons; the first was because he saw how Angelight really did want answers for the incident in the Decepticon Prison that resulted in the loss of a good number of her memory logs, the second reason was he felt that he knew the pink femme's chassis better due to both being rebuilt by the same mech and in return would know more efficient ways to repair her.

"Peach, I am really glad you're here but I have to ask, how did you get here?" Mario asked as he finally managed to find the tool he was searching for.

"My Autobot Informant Soldier discovered the Space Bridge, but for their protection in case Decepticons might be listening in, I can't reveal their name and I only contact them through a classified frequency." Peach answered.

The red and blue mech raised an optic ridge upon hearing this; he recalled a few months ago how Luigi told him that Paula was rescued by a strange blue femme who shouted out words he couldn't comprehend due to how fast she spoke, leaving him to wonder if the femme was Peach's informant.

Deciding to brush the thought aside for moment, Mario gently moved Peach's arms to the side so he could examine her wound. He did his best not to flinch in guilt when he saw the large hole with small bits of energon still dripping off the edges. He couldn't help but feel responsible for the femme's wound since she had received it from trying to reach Earth so they could build a SpaceBridge near the ark.

Peach was able to notice this easily due to how well she knew the mech and without a word she rested her servo atop of his shoulder, prompting his blue optics to glance up at her.

"Mario, my wound isn't your fault. It doesn't matter if I get injured in the process, I'm always willing to stand by you and help you fight this war against the Decepticons, not because I need to, but because I want to. Those Autobot troops look up to the both of us and we both know we have to be strong for them no matter what." she stated in a stern tone.

Mario cycled air through his vents out of frustration before without warning; he grabbed ahold of Peach's chassis and held her tightly against his chestplates.  
The pink femme remained silent as she noticed the mech's chassis shook a bit. She knew that while she was aware of dangers that came with war, Mario was worried to lose the last thing from his old life that he cherished dearly after having the war take away the two Cybertronians that were like parents to him. Peach sighed as she gently rested her helm against his shoulder and gently rested her servo on his other shoulder.

"Jump Pax..." she began by quietly whispering, prompting the mech's optics to widen at the fact he was addressed by his former name.

Peach remained silent for a moment to cycle in air before continuing "I know it's terrifying with the constant worry of whether your loved ones are alright or not in this war. I had that feeling every orn from the moment you left Cybertron. But just know that no matter what, I will stand by your side through the thick and thin. We are equals and we shall lend our support and strength to each other."

The Prime didn't reply as he thought about her words. He knew Peach was always willing to go through the Pit and back even if it meant to help him and he would gladly do the same for her. They were both flung into the war from the moment their old lives were stolen away from the blast of Bowsertron's fusion cannon and they both intend to finish the war. Not wanting to ruin the tender and intimate moment, Mario rested his helm on top of Peach's and continued to hold her in silence, figuring he could enjoy the moment before finally getting back to repairs.

Back with Calliester, her mouth hung open in shock when her grandfather Cuffer explained he had finally found her cousin except she was willingly working with the Decepticons. It stunned the red femme that her own relative was willing to turn her back on her family.

"Are you sure Marible was aiding the Decepticons? Because her logic circuits would have to be fried for her to side with the very Cybertronians that kidnapped her!" she exclaimed.

Cuffer sighed before replying "I have a hard time believing it too, Calliester, but there was no denying she was helping them. She's even already caused some wreckage for Bowsertron thanks to her pile drivers. But the strangest thing, when she looked at me during the battle, it almost seemed like she didn't even know who I was."

"Did they reprogram her to follow their will?" the red femme asked.

Cuffer stared at in granddaughter in shock before exclaiming "Bowsertron, wouldn't stoop that low. He may kill true but he had never forced one Cybertronian to become a Decepticon. Being a Decepticon is a matter of choice, one that Bowsertron respects and encourages. Remember the whole reason he started the whole movement was because of the corrupt Cybertronian council who forced their ways upon the planet, using fortune as an incentive."

Calliester remained silent as she thought about the mystery surrounding her cousin. She knew even if Marible had chosen to join the Decepticons willingly, she would have at least recognized her own grandfather. But she knew that couldn't be the case since Cuffer explained to her how Marible stared at him like he was a stranger, leaving her to wonder if the Decepticons had her memory logs erased. While she couldn't figure out at the moment whether or not her cousin was truly reprogrammed, she knew the more important thing was at least getting her cousin back and then worrying about the state of the femme's processor.

She was awakened from her thoughts when she heard Jetpit grumble as he walked into the room while rubbing the crest of his helm. Upon examination she noticed there was a small dent, leaving her to wonder what the mech had hit his helm against to earn such an injury.

Deciding to get answers she asked "So what happened to you?"

Jetpit's engine revved slightly in frustration before answering "So I decided to check out the shooting range despite Bulkmurray warning me to stay away. But as you know me, that does little to draw away my curiosity. So I decided to check out what he didn't want me to see. The end result was me getting punched in the face by Zeldia. If I knew she could pack such a punch, I would have never investigated."

"What did you do to make her punch you?" Calliester asked both out of confusion and curiosity.

The blue mech did his best not to flinch as he recalled, but with a bit of hesitancy he answered "I may um... have accidentally interrupted her bonding time with Ironlink."

Both Calliester and Cuffer stared in shock at the mech's confession before finally Calliester slapped her servo against her helm with a groan, finding it unbelievable that Jetpit had did something considered to be embarrassing and foolish.  
Seeing the reactions he received for his answer, Jetpit narrowed his optics in annoyance before leaving the room to head to the Medbay to get his dent fixed. He believed the less he was reminded of his accident, the better.

Meanwhile at the Medbay, Angelight asked with a frown "What do you mean you won't tell me? Ratchet, I want to know, what happened in that prison to make me lose my memory and why were the Decepticons so desperate to capture me in the first place?"

Ratchet clenched his servos in frustration before replying "I told you that it's better off left forgotten. Angelight, I rather not dig up the past, especially after what the council forced me to do in attempt to get those memory logs back."

The medic shuttered his optics as the memories came rushing back to him.

_Ratchet turned his helm left and right as he found himself being escorted by a couple of Autobot soldiers through the council halls. He couldn't understand why he had been summoned by the council after he was still recovering from his wounds he had received from trying to protect Angelight from the Bounty Hunter that defeated him and handed them both over to the Decepticons. It wasn't long until his escorts led him to the red and blue mech with the blonde beard that had repaired both Mario and Peach._

_"Ansem Trion, I didn't know you were here. Last I heard you had stepped down from the council ever since Phoenix Prime went offline." he stated in surprise._

_"Indeed I have but the council has asked me to speak on their behalf since they deem the growing war against Bowsertron and his Decepticons a more important matter." Ansem replied._

_Ratchet narrowed his optics in suspicion and firmly crossed his arms across his chestplates as he commented "I thought it was the Prime's duty to worry about the Decepticons and not the council's."_

_The red and blue mech rested a servo on the medic's shoulder before explaining "It is but you must keep this in mind. While Phoenix had complete faith that Mario would be a strong and wise leader, the council doesn't think so. They are especially hesitant to him because of his past with Bowsertron and how he had willingly sided with his cause which birthed the Decepticons in the first place. So the council has decided that they should place it upon themselves to put the Prime on a leash, making sure he does no actions that they would not agree with and keep things under their control."_

_Ratchet couldn't help but sneer at this response. He didn't blame Bowsertron's hatred for the council, especially after hearing that the council was essentially trying to make Mario Prime their puppet. He only hoped that the Autobot Leader would be the wiser and wouldn't allow that to happen. Remembering the reason he was there, Ratchet decided to ask Ansem why he had been summoned in the first place. A wave over worry washed over him when he saw the elderly mech frown before he guided him into a room. Once inside the medic instantly froze at the sight that lay before him._

_In the room lay an unconscious Angelight, strapped down to a berth with her helm removed and many large wires connected to her exposed processor. Ratchet was horrified when Ansem explained to him how the council wanted him to forcibly extract the information from her processor, believing the memories logs weren't truly erased but rather buried deep within her processor._

_"I can't do that to her, she might go offline in the process!" Ratchet exclaimed in anger._

_"I'm aware of this but the council wants that information. Without it their project will end up being a failure and because of this they will do everything in their power to get the information they require." Ansem stated._

_The red and white mech snarled in anger before he harshly jerked his shoulder out of Ansem's grip. It enraged him that the council was willing to possibly sacrifice an innocent life only to dispose of a being that threatened their power. He now realized why Bowsertron claimed why the council was so corrupt with power and while he didn't want to side with the Decepticons, a part of him did hope that they succeeded in their goal to destroy the council. Knowing he had no choice of his own in the situation, Ratchet walked over to the berth. He cycled in air through his vents for a moment, trying to cool down his engine that burned with rage before summoning some of his tools from subspace._

_Despite the fact Angelight couldn't hear him, the medic quietly whispered "I'm sorry, Angelight, for everything." before beginning work on her processor._

"Ratchet, is everything alright?" Angelight asked out of concern, awakening Ratchet from his memories.

"Uh sorry about that, got lost in thought for a bit there." he immediately apologized.

The femme let out a sigh before nodding her helm, knowing that no matter how much she asked the medic wouldn't tell her of her forgotten past until he was ready to talk about it. Her helm immediately whipped to the side when she heard Jetpit enter the Medbay while asking if Ratchet could fix the dent in his helm.

"And how did you earn such a dent with no Decepticons around?" Ratchet asked with an optic ridge raised.

"If I told you then you might not fix me." Jetpit answered with a nervous grin.

Upon hearing this, the medic sighed while shaking his helm before he gestured his arm for the blue mech to come over so he could preform the repairs necessary.

Back with Mario and Peach, the pink femme ran her servos over her newly repaired midriff, testing if it had been patched up properly. Once she saw the metal used to seal up the hole was secure, she smiled in satisfaction before sliding off the berth. With her repairs finished, she wanted to find both Zeldia and Angelight so they could begin work on the Spacebridge gate for the Autobot base. She believed with how much time had passed since her troop's arrival on Earth that the rest of her troop back on Cybertron had already finished the gate on their end.

"Mario, do you have the necessary supplies for the construction of the Spacebridge? As you probably figured, my troop couldn't bring such materials due to the fact we had to go behind enemy lines just to reach the Space Bridge the Decepticons have control of." she asked.

"While we have no such materials on the Ark, I'm sure our human allies may be able to help obtain them without drawing attention to us." Mario stated.

"Oh so that's what those organic beings I saw when we arrived were. I believe my informant mentioned them as well. How did they manage to get wrapped up in all this?" Peach replied.

The pink femme's optics slowly widened in surprise as the Prime explained to her about Ness hearing the call of Primus which led him to discovering the Ark and reactivating all the Cybertronians, while Paula, Jeff, and Daisy were the result of getting caught in the crossfire between the two forces. She couldn't prevent the frown that formed on her face when she was informed on how the Decepticons killed Paula's uncle before they captured her. Peach felt sad for the young girl since she was very familiar with the concept of death, having lost many comrades to the war that had spanned for millions of years.

"Though I hope that these few humans will be the only ones aware of our existence. The last thing I want is to bring the devastation of our war to this innocent planet so it's better off if humanity were not discover us." Mario stated.

But before anyone could say anything else, the ship's alarms started sounding off. Without any hesistation the two commanders immediately dashed out of the room and made their way to the command center. Once there they were already greeted with the sight of Wheelegad typing at the control panel frequently while Jeff was sitting on the panel, staring at the screen.

"Wheelegad, what's the status?" Mario demanded.

The white mech glanced at his leader before answering "Mastertran-1 is picking up reports of an attack on a Fuel Factory. I'm trying to find out which Decepticons are attacking."

"If you like, Wheelegad, I can pull up camera footage on my laptop." Jeff suggested as he picked up his bag.

Wheelegad stared in shock before exclaiming how the child managed to sync his laptop to the ship's computer and even manage to read and understand the Cybertronian text.  
The blonde-headed boy couldn't help but crack a grin before he explained that Cliffalcon had been teaching him how to read Cybertronian all due to the fact he was curious about their race and the red mech believed it would be better if he read up about Cybertron's history rather than explaining it to him.

"And because I knew you guys would need to access the control panel a lot, I figured it would be easier to program my laptop where it could access the files and programs from it, that way I wouldn't be in your way." he finished.

When he heard this explanation, Wheelegad couldn't prevent his mouth from dropping open in shock. He couldn't believe the young boy manage to be so bright that he was able to learn a foreign language with a few lessons and was even offering to help out with his new found knowledge. Remembering that he needed to get information, the white mech agreed to the young boy's request, prompting him to quickly type on his computer and pull up the footage from Mastertran-1's security drone.

When Peach saw what was on screen, she gasped as her optics widened in disbelief and horror. Attacking the Fuel Factory was none other than Yoshilock along with Klag who was a mech designed to look like a yellow turtle with red and white chestplates, a black and yellow helm with red horns and a blue visor over his optics, gray arms, boots, and servos, and black legs, alongside Pledge who was a femme designed to look like an orange plesiosaur with red chestplates, gray arms and boots, black legs, helm, and servos.

"Yoshilock and part of his team are here on Earth? Why does he now decide to show himself after he and his team went missing many vorns ago?" Mario asked.

"I don't know why they're here but I do know why he and his team went missing all those vorns ago." Peach stated, "They were ambushed and captured by the Decepticons and for many vorns they were subjected to Ganonwave's experiments. He altered them, transforming them into creatures he deemed as Dinobots. I had stumbled onto him trying to escape with Swoopdo and a badly wounded Snarldile. In order to insure the safety of his comrades, Yoshilock sacrificed himself, resulting in his recapture."

Mario was stunned at this new information and felt partially responsibilities for the state of Dinobots. He believed that he should had came to the conclusion that the team had captured long ago and organized a rescue mission and could have possibly prevented Ganonwave from performing the alterations on them. But unfortunately he had thought that Yoshilock had only chosen to go into radio silence since he knew the dinosaur mech preferred to follow fight the war his own way rather than follow the orders of a Prime.

The red and blue mech was awakened from his thoughts when Wheelegad pointed out "But that still doesn't explain why they're here if they were in Ganonwave's custody and why they're attacking."

Peach remained silent as she examined the footage on screen. She didn't know why but she felt there was something different about the savage mech destroying all in his sight. She remembered how while Yoshilock was strangely vicious, he still had the caring side of him that pleaded for the safety of his companions. At that moment, Peach froze when she noticed that the three dinobots no longer had their usual bright blue optics. Instead their optics now glowed red with rage and primal instinct.

"So did they manage to escape the Decepticons and came here through the Spacebridge?" Jeff asked.

Realizing why the Dinobots were attacking, Peach slowly shook her helm before replying "No, they didn't escape. Ganonwave sent them here and based on their red optics it seems that Ganonwave decided to alter more than just their transform protocols, he reprogrammed them to fight for the Decepticons."


	13. Burning Flames

Chapter 13

A few hours before the Dinobots attacked, back at the Spacebridge gate, the Decepticons all stood silently as they watched the light shoot toward the sky. Bowsertron had his red optics fixed on the bright light, awaiting the delivery. He was certainly shocked when he had received an incoming call from Ganonwave earlier that day, explaining about how Peach and her troop managed to arrive on Earth and blueprints for the Spacebridge had been stolen from his computer, leaving him to decide to send what he deemed as his pets to Earth.

"It better not be those stinking Insecticons. I swear I want to strangle the one that loves to say 'Poyo' after all his sentences." Skyreala grumbled as he accidentally leaned back on Thundernights.

The femme's wings twitched in annoyance before she immediately shoved the mech to the ground, prompting him to sit up and glare at her.  
But before anyone could say anything else, the light in the Spacebridge faded away to reveal Yoshilock and his two companions.

"Wait they're from the Lightning Strike Coalition! They're Ganonwave's pets?!" Wartscream exclaimed in disbelief.

Bowsertron did not reply as he approached the three Dinobots. He found it strange how the team's leader hadn't uttered a single word and instead stood obediently still when he knew that Yoshilock tended to be aggressive and stubborn. Deciding to test a theory, the Decepticon Leader took a few steps back before commanding the Dinobots to approach him. A dark and satifisied grin formed on his face when the three Dinobots followed his orders and approached him without a word.

"Yoshilock isn't this obedient, not even toward Autobots. Exactly what did Ganonwave do to him and his team?" Thundernights commented with a small frown.

"Maybe the same thing ol' Vectorwave here had done to that femme." Skyreala smirked, earning a hateful glare from the blue mech.

"None of that matters, what does though is that Ganonwave was kind enough to provide me with a weapon to crush those Autobots. If the alterations that Ganonwave spoke of are just effiecient as he claimed then it shall be interesting to see Mario Prime fall to their power and strength." Bowsertron commented as he began to formalate a plan.

Back to the present, Mario had sent out Little Brawn, Jetstreak, and Jetpit to incapacitate the Dinobots in order to prevent them from doing anymore damage. Little Brawn huffed in annoyance when he saw both of his teammates zoom past him at top speed while he was putting much strain on his engine since he was never meant to be built for speed but rather power. Fortunately it wasn't long until they found themselves approaching the Fuel Factory.

"Alright so anyone got any suggestions how we're suppose to take these guys down? I mean we are talking about Yoshilock and he has quite the battle experience under his belt." Jetpit pointed out as he changed out of his blue jet form.

"Oh please." Jetstreak gloated as he changed into his bipedal form designed to look like a green hawk with gray armor, "Yoshilock may be strong but he's slow. I can speed circles around him before taking him down with ease."

"Oh… well I guess here's your chance to put your credits where your mouth is." the blue mech commented as he pointed toward the three Dinobots that were charging toward them.

Thinking fast Jetstreak immeditately activated the wheels on his peds and summoned a blaster from his subspace. The gray mech's tires schreeched as he zoomed past Yoshilock and fired at his back, earning yells of both anger and pain from him.  
Jetpit grinned as he lowered his bright blue visor over his optics and changed his two servos into jet turbines. He slammed the two turbines together, creating a large tornado that managed to sweep Pledge off her peds and send her tumbling through the air.  
Little Brawn narrowed his optics when he saw Klag summon a large black and red club from his subspace.

"Oh come on, you don't look so tough with that thing!" the green and yellow mech taunted with a laugh.

But his laughter immediately died down when all of the sudden, the club was engulfed in flames. Little Brawn grinned nervously before quickly ducking under the fiery club's swing, making him wish that he hadn't provoked the Dinobot.  
Bluestreak continued dodging Yoshilock's multiple attacks with a victorous smirk, proud to see that the Dinobot was indeed too slow to land a hit. But as he continued to dodged, he failed to see the dino mech's red optics glow brighter with each second.

At that moment, Yoshilock unleashed a loud and vicious roar as his body began to shift and change. His chassis had transformed into a gray robotic t-rex that stood double the height of the Autbots.  
Jetstreak froze in fear as his optics stared at the ferocious form that now stood before him. Because of being in such a shocked state, the gray mech failed to realize Yoshilock rear back his head with his mouth opened wide. By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late to dodge.

Jetstreak yelled out in pain as the Dinobot managed to clamp his jaw down on his leg, his sharp denta creating tears in his armor. His denta clenched tightly as he fired his blaster at Yoshilock's head, hoping it would make the Dinobot release him. Unfortunately this only prompted Yoshilock to swing his head back with Jetstreak still trapped in his jaws and begin sharking him around like a rag doll.

"Guys, a little help here!" Jetstreak yelled as warning messages flashed in his vision.

Jetpit's optics widened in surprise when he saw the state of his teammate. But before he could even blast the tornados toward the robotic t-rex, the blue mech found himself slammed painfully to the ground by a large tail. He groaned as he slowly lifted up his helm, trying to figure out what had hit him. His spark nearly stopped pulsing when he saw none other than Plegde whose form had changed into a large robotic Apatosaurus that only stood a little taller than Yoshilock.

"Peach said that these guys got new forms…" Jetpit started in a calm tone before shouting, "She didn't say anything about those forms being gigantic!"

Pledge let out an angry roar before swinging her tail once more at the blue mech, prompting him to quickly change into his jet form and take off to the sky to dodge the attack. But unfornately the Dinobot immediately followed up her attack by blasting at stream of fire from her mouth, burning one of his wings and forcing him to crash to the ground.  
Little Brawn balled up his servos into tight fists as he slammed one of them into Klag's chestplates, causing the Dinobot to fall to the ground and lose his grip on his weapon. He let out a sigh of relief at the fact he finally managed to get rid of the weapon causing him trouble until both to his shock and annoyance, Klag transformed into a robotic Triceratops.

"Oh come on!" he whined as the Triceratops scrapped his foot on the ground constantly before charging.

Acting on reflex, Little Brawn immediately grabbed ahold of Klag's red horns, grunting as he desperately dug his peds into the ground to prevent getting shoved back by the Dinobot.

Watching the battle from a distance was none other than the Decpeticons who all but Bowsertron were shocked and surprised at the forms the Dinobots had received from Ganonwave.

"They have such amazing endurance, it's almost like they're invincible." Skyreala commented with his mouth hanging open.

"Well I'd imagine Ganonwave would want them to handle some seriously damage since due to their large forms and strength, it would make them slow and therefore be an easy target from incoming enemy fire." Vectorwave commented.

"While I'm pleased with their performance, I'd rather withhold judgement until I see how they will handle Prime, that's our primary oppoenent that needs to fall." Bowsertron stated.

Thundernights narrowed her optics in disgust as she dug her digits in her arm slightly. She didn't like how cooperative the Dinobots were being with the Decepticons.

"But don't you find it funny how they're not questioning your orders at all. It's strange that Ganonwave some how swayed them to our cause and he doesn't even say how he did so. To me it seems like they were forced to join rather than offered, something I recall you're fully against Bowsertron." the blue femme commented with a sneer.

Bowsertron did not reply but instead shuttered his optics. While it was true he did not like it when Cybertronians are forced to his side through reprogramming, he decided for the sake of victory he would ignore this. If a few Cybertronian processors had to be cracked open and altered in order to insure the fall of the Autobots then he was willing to push his personal morals aside for the sake of the Decepticon cause.

Jetstreak cried out as Yoshilock finally released his leg upon slamming him to the ground. His face twisted with pain as he glanced over at his leg, seeing the armor torn badly from Yoshilock's denta and energon constantly pour from his wounds.

"Guys, I think we may have to retreat before we end up left in a state were we can't even make it back to the Ark." Jetpit groaned as he got up from the ground, flinching in pain when he tried to move his burnt white wing.

"Yeah but how are we suppose to get away without the Dinobots chasing after us? We'll need a distraction." Little Brawn stated as he continued to struggle to hold Klag back.

But before the blue mech could even utter response, his chassis froze as he sensed a familiar presence in his spark. His helm quickly titled upward just in time to see an orange jet fly over him. His blue optics widened as his visor moved away, wondering if he was seeing things or not. Though he got his answer when he saw the jet transform into a young mech with orange and white armor with the Decepticon insignia engrained on his hip plate.  
The orange mech smirked before he changed his white servos into flame throwers. He yelled out as the jets on his back thrust forward while his orange helm lit up with flames along with his flame throwers, giving him the appearance of a fiery comet. Using all his strength he smashed his chassis at full strength into Yoshilock, knocking the Dinobot to the ground.

Both Pledge and Klag directed their attention to their fallen leader, no longer focusing on the Autobots as they both unleashed angry roars before blasting fire from their mouths toward the Decepticon.  
The orange mech rolled his red optics before dashing through the flames and kicking Pledge's neck, forcing the Dinobot to stumble from the impact and almost fall on Klag.  
Seeing the fight as a distraction, Little Brawn quickly ran over to his two companions.

"Can you both still transform?" he asked.

The gray mech hissed in pain when he moved his badly injured leg before answering "I should be able to make it back to the Ark, but Jetpit's wing is badly damaged, he won't be able to fly in such a state."

Nodding his helm in understanding, Little Brawn immediately transformed into his vehicle form, followed by Jetstreak who had a little trouble shifting forms due to his injury. He was fixing to drive off until he noticed that Jetpit hadn't moved an inch from his spot and continued staring at the battle playing out before him.

"Jetpit, we got to move now!" the green and yellow mech shouted, awakening his companion from his state of shock.

Jetpit shook his helm a few times, doing his best to straighten out his thoughts before glancing once more at the mech battling the Dinobots. He clenched his denta tightly as he reached out with his spark, trying to grasp ahold of the presence he could feel lingering in it only to be closed off. His vents blew out air in frustration before dashing over and jumping onto the roof of Little Brawn's vehicle mode. Without another word the Autobots immediately took off, leaving behind a trail of dust.

Upon seeing the Autobots flee, the orange mech grinned in satisfaction before lowering to the ground and extinguishing the flames on his chassis. A loud grunt escaped from his mouth when he found himself slammed to the ground by Yoshilock. His denta clenched tightly as he watched the Dinobot snarl as he approached while his sharp denta dripped with the energon he managed to draw forth from Jetstreak. The mech flinched slightly when he saw the Dinobot prepared to snap his jaws down on his chassis but much to his relief he heard a voice yell out for the Dinobots to stand down.

Yoshilock snorted in anger before he and his comrades transformed back into their bipedal forms and stood still, awaiting further orders.

"Well it seems after all these vorns, you still like to put your olfactory sensors where they do not belong, Jetdark." Bowsertron commented as he approached the orange mech.

Jetdark simply shrugged his shoulders before responding "I sensed my twin was in danger and acted upon it. I'm sure if you had a twin you would understand how twins have an instinct to protect one another with the whole split spark and all that."

"Well your split spark cost us victory! If I was leader of the Decepticons I would..." Wartscream started to yell but much to his anger, Thundernights slapped her servo over his mouth with an annoyed look painted on her face.

This prompted all the Decpeticons, including Bowsertron to a sigh in relief, thankful that the femme managed to save them from having shrieks fill their audio receptors.

"So why are you here, Jetdark? Reports indicated that you went missing during a scout mission hundreds of vorns ago." Vectorwave stated.

"That is an excellent question." Jetdark replied as he stood up, "See during that mission which as you all know I was stuck with Screamer over there as a partner, we encountered this planet. I guess we flew too close because we ended up getting pulled in by the planet's gravity force that we couldn't escape easily due to low energy levels and in order to save his own aft, Screamer decided to use me as a springboard. He left me behind while I fell into stasis while I was stuck in jet form. By the time I reactivated, I was being used by some humans for some war... can't remember what it was about though. So I've been hanging low until I sensed my twin's presence in danger and decided to act."

Wartscream ripped Thundernights' servo away from his mouth before yelling "Will you stop calling me Screamer! I always hated that nickname you seem to always love to flaunt around!"

The orange mech chuckled with a smirk before replying "Oh I don't know, I think it describes you pretty well."

The red and gray mech snarled in anger, trying to resist the urge to grab ahold of the mech before him and immediately start strangling him while violently shaking his chassis around.  
Jetdark laughed at the sight of the angry Decpeticon before directing his attention toward the Dinobots and asking about them. He raised an optic ridge in intrigue upon hearing how the Dinobots were captured Autobots that were experimented on and altered to take the forms of prehistoric creatures that once lived on Earth a long time ago and now they serves the Decepticons with absolutely no remarks or objections.

"Huh, I guess Ganonwave must have more charisma than I thought if he managed to sway three Autobots to our side and made them so obedient that they don't even talk. Sounds like a far-fetched and impossible feat but none the less I'm still impressed." he commented.

"I seriously doubt Ganonwave has any charisma. Even a Junkion has more charisma than him." Thundernights bitterly remarked.

"For the last time, it does not matter how Ganonwave convinced the Dinobots to join our cause." Bowsertron stated with his voice hinted with a small growl, "What does matter is that they have shown to be able to hold their own against the Autobots and Jetdark only gained the upper servo due to his fire abilities. The Autobots would need an equal power in order to defeat them and with those Autobots fleeing back to their base, they're sure to tell Mario Prime about their defeat. Realizing that it would require more strength to defeat the Dinobots, Prime himself is surely enough to come out to fight them and once he falls to their might, the rest of the Autobots forces shall crumble as well and then finally the Decepticons shall have victory with me bringing Cybertron back to its rightful glory!"

Jetdark nodded his helm but barely paid attention to his speech as once more he sensed his twin try to reach out for him through his bond. The orange mech sighed as he once again closed off his end of his bond, making sure his twin was blocked off from any emotions he felt. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to try to convince him to side with the Autobots when they were fighting against the Decpeticon cause. He had joined the Decepticons to fight against the Cybertronian Council that he despised with all his spark due to how they wanted to control the planet's inhabitants with their state of ranks and the last thing he wanted was for anyone to control him. His grin slightly faltered when he sensed small amounts of Jetpit's pain and sadness come from the bond at the fact he had continued to block him off. Jetdark sighed as he shuttered his optics, trying his best to ignore his twin's presence and focus on his current task and that was doing all he could to help the Decepticons win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jet the Hawk - Bluestreak  
> Dark Pit - Jetfire  
> Koops - Slug  
> Plessie - Sludge


	14. Attack on the City

Chapter 14

"They turned into what?!" Wheelegad exclaimed as he stood before the three mechs in the Medbay.

"Giant creatures with razor sharp denta, not to mention the fact they can breathe fire." Jetpit stated as Ratchet did repairs on his wing that occasionally flinched from the pain.

"I think the word you're looking for is dinosaurs, Jetpit. Or at least that's what Paula told me." Little Brawn commented.

"And they are hard to take down, Yoshilock was able to do a serious number to my leg and I wasn't able to free myself because his armor seemed thicker in his dinosaur form." Jetstreak said as he was cautiously removing the armor off of his damaged leg.

Wheelegad remained silent as he placed his servo against his chin. It surprised him how Ganonwave managed to make the Dinobots extremely durable during battle, something he would be impressed with if it weren't for the fact the Decepticon Scientist did it against the against the five Cybertronians' will, forcing them through a painful process just for the sake of experiments. The other thing that puzzled the white mech was the fact how Ganonwave managed to convince the Dinobots to serve the Decepticons. He recalled how Peach noted that their optics were red instead of their usual blue and how the three mechs before him explained how Yoshilock strangely said nothing when in the past he was known as a Cybertronian that was hard to keep quiet.

"If only we can catch them, then I could take a look in their processors and figure out exactly what Ganonwave had done to them." Wheelegad thought out loud.

Jetstreak let out a snort before saying "Well good luck. If we want to defeat the Dinobots, then we're going to need something equal to their power."

Upon hearing this, Wheelegad's optics widened as he exclaimed "That's it!", startling the other mechs in the Medbay in the process.

Meanwhile Daisy out her tongue in focus as she frantically mashed buttons on her game controller, trying desperately to beat Luigibee at a racing game. When Jeff explained to the Autobots that she did not had a family and was instead raised by him and his father for a few years, Mario saw it reasonable to have the young girl live at the Ark where she could be kept under the protection of the Autobots and not fall in the Decepticons' grasp. They still weren't able to figure out why Vectorwave wanted to hand her over to Bowsertron, but chose not to pursue that curiosity for the girl's sake.

Daisy grinned wildly when the screen began flashing that she had won the race, prompting her to start jumping up and down with joy while Luigibee dropped his controller and crossed his arms in annoyance.

Noticing the mech's emotions, a sly smirk formed on Daisy's face as she taunted "And you thought I wouldn't win, well not everyone can be a great gamer like me."

"Why do I get the feeling you cheated with that strange ability of yours?" the yellow mech commented.

Upon hearing this the ginger-headed girl frowned before she went on to explain that she didn't use the ability, especially since she didn't know how to use it and it only seemed to activate whenever she made psychical contact with an injured Autobot. Another thing that confused her was the strange dreams she started having ever since she started living in the Ark. Every night she dreamed about being stuck in a strange glass tube, watching two robots fight viciously until one of them was ran through with a large sword. But when the victor tried to approach the tube she was in, a bright blue glow would fill the room and she would wake up.

"So you never had these abilities before?" Luigibee asked.

Daisy slowly shook her head before replying "I really don't know much about myself, Luigi. Dr. Andonuts always told me that he just found me one day, that's really it. I didn't start showing these abilities until you guys came along."

Luigibee frowned as he watched the young girl sigh as she began mindlessly pressing the buttons on her controller. He wanted to help his friend get the answers she needed but he couldn't help her if he couldn't understand the situation himself. All of the sudden, the mech shouted happily when an idea struck him. He figured that Paula could find out exactly what was going on with Daisy by using her psychic powers.

"We should go to Paula. With her powers she should be able to get inside your mind and find out what's going on." he suggested.

Daisy raised a brow when she heard the suggestion, a part of her thinking the plan wouldn't work while another part of her believed that Paula could truly find the answer for her mysterious ability. Deciding to at least take a chance, the young girl agreed to the idea. With her mind set, Daisy climbed into Luigibee once he had changed into car form. She couldn't prevent an excited grin from forming on her face when she heard the Autobot's tires screech for a few seconds before taking off with a great burst of speed.

Back in the Command room, Wheelegad explained to both Mario Prime and Peach-One about his plan to counteract the Dinobots by pitting Swoopdo and Snarldile against them.

"Ganonwave had performed all the strength and defense alterations on the entire team which would mean Swoopdo and Snarldile should be able to easily take down Yoshilock and his team. Then once we have them in our custody, I should be able to see what Ganonwave had done to their processors and reverse the effects." he stated.

Peach shuttered her optics in thought as she said "That does sound like a good plan, Wheelegad. But the Spacebridge here needs to be finished in order to bring Swoopdo and Snarldile here. I couldn't risk taking them through the Decepticon base back on Cybertron in order to reach the Spacebridge my troop and I used to get here because I didn't want to fail Yoshilock by having the two teammates he had sacrificed himself in order to insure their freedom get captured again. Having them remain on Cybertron was the best decision I could do for them at the time."

Mario rested his servo on the femme's back before saying "It's alright, Peach. I would have done the same thing in your position. Now what is it that we require to build the Spacebridge?"

The femme commander nodded her helm in understanding before placing a chip in the control panel, bringing up the blueprints for the Spacebridge on the screen.  
Wheelegad carefully planted his servos firmly on the control panel as he studied the blueprints carefully, trying to figure what materials would be required to build the Spacebridge. That was when he recalled Dr. Andonuts and how the Deceptions actually managed to acquire the necessary materials from the scientist. Knowing that was they're best chance to get the materials without drawing attention from the humans or the Decepticons, the white mech immediately activated the communicator and tuned in on Cliffalcon's frequency so he could inform Jeff of the plan.

Back at the Decpeticon's base in the ocean, Jetdark raised an optic ridge as he examined his surroundings, wondering how the ship managed to crash into the ocean in the first place.

"So what exactly brought you guys to this planet anyway? I would think you would all be trying to get back to Cybertron as quickly as possible with that Spacebridge you mentioned." he asked out of curiosity.

"We're only here for the rich energy contained on this planet." Skyreala answered, "By using the Spacebridge we can drain this planet of all its energy and use it to restore Cybertron to life. The only one of us who's remotely interested in the organic pipsqueaks living on this planet is Thundernights over here. Heck she even threatened to offline me after I demolished one of them like a Space Barancle."

Thundernights snarled in anger but chose not to act upon it since she knew that fighting her comrade wouldn't do any good when she needed to save her energy for the battle against the Autobots.  
As soon as Skyreala finished his sentence, Jetdark formed a slight frown on his face. While he did want to help defeat the Autobots so they could make their planet one where no one would be forced into classes by corrupt figures, the thought of slaughtering creatures that had nothing to do with their conflict didn't sit well with him. He believed that the humans should be left alone to worry about their own lives and conflicts while they took the necessary energy to save their planet.

Deciding to push away those thoughts temporarily, the orange mech turned toward his leader and asked "So what's the next course of action concerning the Dinobots?"

Bowsertron's red optics glanced over at the three Dinobots that stood still, not moving an inch or showing any once of emotion on their faces. He did want the Dinobots to face against Mario Prime, but he wasn't sure if the Autobot Leader would show himself if he sent the Dinobots out to attack another fuel source site, believing that he would instead to choose to send out more of his troop to try to take down the threat. He knew if he wanted the Prime himself to appear, he needed to raise the stakes to make it irresistible for the Prime to charge into the battle field.

"Hmm, Prime has shown that he has grown fond of the humans during his time on Earth. He even went out of his way to rescue two children that I had buried under rubble in order to insure my escape. Perhaps the key for him to reveal himself is by rather than having the Dinobots attack the fuel source, I should have them directly attack the humans." he suggested.

Thundernights optics widened before she exclaimed "But the humans will get killed! Why should we have to sacrifice innocent lives in order to draw out Prime, why can't we just have the Dinobots attack the Ark directly?"

Bowsertron narrowed his optics, prompting the blue femme to flinch upon being gazed upon with his hateful glare.

"Thundernights, may I remind you where your loyalties lie." he started in a dark and threatening tone as he grabbed her by neck and harshly pinned her against the wall. "Because if you dare question my orders again, I won't hesitate to have you branded as a traitor. You joined the Decepticon cause so I suggest you remain true to that cause."

Without another word he released Thundernights' neck, causing her chassis to loudly smash against the ground.  
Jetdark stared in surprise as he watched the femme force herself onto her servos and knee-joints while releasing a static filled groan due to the fact the Decepticon Leader had partially damaged her voice box. He glanced over at the femme's seeker comrades, seeing them both snicker and grin amongst themselves at the sight before them.

Bowertron ignored this as he kneeled down and grabbed Thundernights by her chin, forcing her helm up where he could make contact with her hateful and partially frightened blue optics.

"So with that said, will you ever speak up for the humans and defy my orders?" he asked with his voice still lingering with a threatening tone.

Thundernights clenched her denta tightly before sighing and replying "No, of course not, Lord Bowsertron."

Satisfied with the femme's answer, Bowsertron released her head, allowing her to once more drop onto her servos before standing up and turning toward Vectorwave to locate the perfect coordinates to attack the humans.  
Seeing he was no longer concerned with the femme, Jetdark slowly walked over to Thundernights and grabbed ahold of her arm as he helped her up, ignoring Skyreala who rolled his blue optics at the sight.

"Let's see if we can do something about that voice box, I'm no medic but I can try to see what I can do." he suggested.

Thundernights nodded her helm agreement as her free servo rubbed her neck which was now covered in small tears and dents.  
But as he guided the femme to the Medbay, Jetdark thought back to the scene he had witnessed and began to wonder if Bowsertron was still truly the noble leader wanting to bring glory back to Cybertron or that during his quest, he managed to allow himself to become just as corrupted as the council he conquered millions of years ago.

Meanwhile in the city, Daisy gasped before jumping up and down in her seat, causing Luigibee to be startled and immediately slam on his breaks.

"What, what is it? Are we being attacked by Decepticons?" he asked as he frantically looked around, searching for any sign of danger.

"I just realized that I can finally go eat at a Burger Joint I've always wanted to eat at from seeing the commercials on TV now that I'm no longer stuck in Dr. Andonuts lab!" the young girl exclaimed happily.

Luigibee groaned at the girl's answer, wishing that he was in his bipedal form just so he could slap his servo against the crest of his helm. Knowing that his friend would keep bugging him about the subject, with a small sigh he asked for the address before driving once more. It wasn't long until they reached the Burger Joint as Daisy swung the car door open wide, unintentionally making Luigibee hiss in pain from how hard the young girl swung it open.  
He was surprised that the young girl was strong enough to cause such pain but decided to ignore that thought when he saw the young girl grunt as she crossed her arms.

"I just realized I'll have to go in alone. You'll be alright out here alone will you?" she said.

"Who says I can't get in?" Luigibee asked with a chuckle.

Within seconds Daisy gasped when before her very eyes appeared a young Italian-American man wearing a yellow jacket and black pants.

Seeing her stunned face, Luigibee rolled his blue eyes before commenting "I can't believe you forgot that in order to hide from humans we adopted holomatter avatars or holoforms for short. So I'll still be able to keep an optic on you. Also if anyone asks, my name is Danny Wells."

The young girl raised a brow in confusion before asking "Why Danny Wells?"

The holoform sighed in annoyance as he stuffed his hands into pockets of his jacket before muttering "Well I wanted the name Charles Martinet, but Mario already took that name for his holoform."

Without another word Daisy shook her head with a small smile before darting into the Burger Joint with Luigibee following behind her while being careful not to bump into anything otherwise he would frighten people from seeing his holoform phase through solid matter. Using the money she had carried with her, the young girl had ordered herself a burger combo with a large drinks and fries. She could barely hold in her excitement before dashing over to an empty table and began greedily biting into her burger.  
Luigibee tilted his head partially out of confusion and interest as he sat down across from the girl. While he didn't understand why humans weren't able to drink energon like Cybertronians, it did catch his intrigue at what the food possibly tastes like despite the fact he couldn't consume it himself.

The two sat in silence until they heard the sounds of screaming fill the air. Daisy glanced out of the window and her mouth dropped open in horror when she saw none other than the Dinobots attacking in their dinosaurs forms, breathing fire at the fleeing humans. She firmly planted her hands against the glass window, unsure what to do. But when she turned to ask Luigibee for her answer, she managed to catch the last glimpse of his holoform vanishing from sight before the sound of a revving engine reached her ears.

The yellow mech sped his car toward the attacking Dinobots, doing his best to avoid the fleeing humans. Using his top speeds, Luigibee managed to smash against Yoshilock's leg, causing the robotic T-Rex to topple over from the force.  
Yoshilock roared in rage before he blasted a stream of fire at the Autobot.  
The yellow car swerved out of the way of the fire, but unfortunately this allowed Klag to ram into him, his horns piercing his side.

Daisy's heart nearly stopped in fear when she saw Luigibee changed back into his bipedal form while holding a servo over the wounds he had received before the robotic T-Rex smashed his foot down on his chestplates and began crushing him, causing the mech to start crying out in pain. Her hands clenched tightly as she watched the scene unfold before her; she didn't know how much she could do but she knew she was bound determined to help her friend. Without any second thoughts she grabbed ahold of the napkin dispenser from her table and ran outside.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Daisy shouted before throwing the napkin dispenser at the Dinobots.

The dispenser lightly clanked against Klag's head, not even leaving a dent. The robotic Triceratops slowly turned his head and narrowed his red optics at the girl before he began dragging his foot along to ground, getting ready to charge.

"Daisy, run!" Luigibee yelled with a grunt as he began desperately trying to shove Yoshilock's foot off his chassis.

Unfortunately it was too late, the young girl didn't even have time to so much as flinch before the Dinobot charged toward her and slammed one of his horns into her torso. Daisy didn't make a single sound as her body was sent flying from the impact before painfully smashing against the wall of the Burger Joint and slumping lifelessly to the ground.

Luigibee's optics widened in horror upon seeing his friend that he had agreed to protect lying lifeless on the ground. At that moment rage began surging through his entire systems, prompting him to change one of his servos into his stingers and fire directly at the Yoshilock's optics.  
The Dinobot roared in pain as he felt his optic shatter, causing him to go temporarily go blind on the left side. He lifted his foot off of the yellow mech, no longer concerned with the Autobot as he rapidly shook around his head, trying to get rid of the burning pain caused from his smoking and broken optic.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Luigibee immediately darted over to Daisy's body, hoping that she was still alright. But when he reached her, his spark nearly stopped pulsing as his chassis froze both out of shock and disbelief.

Daisy groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, noticing the Autobot standing before her as he stared with the frozen expression of shock painted on his face. She was confused by this until she glanced down at her torso. She felt an eerie cold wash over her when she saw a large tear in her torso but instead of blood and torn muscle, the tear revealed circuitry with energon leaking from her wound. The ginger-headed girl began taking in frantic breaths and her body shook as she tried comprehend this discovery.

Finally she tilted her head upward with tears streaming down her face as she asked in a weak and frightened tone "Luigi, what am I?"


	15. Views on Humanity

Chapter 15

Luigibee opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out the words to say about the scene that lay before him. He was stunned that the girl's wound revealed circuitry that occasionally emitted sparks from the broken wires and energon constantly leaked off the edges of her tear and onto the ground, making him wonder why organic creature that ended up containing robotic parts that they shouldn't contain in the first place.  
Daisy's body shook as her breath hitched; she couldn't understand how she never knew of her robotic nature after all those years and wondered if either Dr. Andonuts and Jeff knew exactly what she was and if so, why they had never told her.

The Autobot was snapped out his thoughts when without warning he was hit and knocked into a nearby building, causing the wall to collapse. Luigibee groaned as he slowly sat up, seeing Pledge was the one that had knocked him into building by swatting her tail against him.  
The robotic Apatosaurus snarled as the inside of her mouth began glowing red, getting ready to fire. But before she could even blast fire, all of the sudden Cliffalcon leap onto her back and clung his arms tightly around her long neck.

"Ha gotcha!" Cliffalcon proudly proclaimed.

Pledge's red optics glowed brightly before she began snarling in rage and began rapidly bucking her legs, trying to throw the red mech off of her back.

"Gah, riding this thing is harder than I thought it would be! Luigi, get Daisy to safety, Jeff's waiting!" he yelled as he desperately hung on to prevent being slung off the Dinobot's back.

Luigibee nodded his helm before quickly scooping Daisy up into his servos and took off. He ran until he managed to spot Jeff hiding behind the corner of a nearby building, out of danger's grasp. Wanting to go back to help his fellow Autobot, Luigibee gently lay Daisy on the ground next to Jeff before changing both of his servos into his stingers and taking off.  
Jeff's mouth dropped open when he saw the girl whimpering in pain as she tried to use her arms to cover up the exposed circuitry. He had no idea that the girl he was friends with for years ended up secretly being a robot. He remained silent as he gently kneeled down and rested his hand on her shoulder, causing her to slightly flinch.

Seeing she was still frightened and confused by the sudden realization, the young boy gently insured "It's okay, Daisy. I just want to get a closer look. I think this was why the Decepticons were after you in the first place."

Daisy bit her lip, unsure whether or not she could truly trust anyone. But after taking a few moments in thought, the young girl sighed as she moved away her arm, believing she could trust Jeff since he had always been a good friend and based on his expression, it seemed he was just as shocked by the discovery as well.  
Cliffalcon yelled as he finally lost his grip on Pledge, allowing the Dinobot to buck him off of her back and send him flying for a few seconds and crash and the ground the moment Luigibee finally came running up.

"Note to self, never attempt to ride a Dinobot because they are not very keen to the idea." he groaned as he pushed himself onto his servos and knee-joints.

"So, Cliffalcon, what exactly is the plan and how did you manage to find us?" the yellow mech asked as his stingers emitted small amounts of electricity.

"I had received a call from Wheelegad, telling me to go see Jeff's dad to see if he still had the same materials the Decepticons stole in order to build their Spacebridge so we could build one of our own. We were on our way until we saw people fleeing and heard the sounds of your struggle with the Dinobots. My first plan was to ride one of them until they grew tired and collapsed but you saw how well that plan went. So the new plan is to hold them off until backup arrives, hopefully they'll get here before the human authorities." Cliffalcon explained.

Understanding the plan, Luigibee charged into battle alongside the red mech as he activated his comm, alerting the other Autobots to their situation.

Back at the Decepticon base, all the Decepticons watched the battle by using Laserduck who was flying over and surveying the entire battle. Thundernights silently grinded her denta together from the rage seeing how much chaos and destruction the Dinobots were creating. While all the humans had managed to successfully flee the area, she knew a good number of people still got hurt and it would only be a matter of time before the human authorities would intervene and cause even more humans to get hurt. The blue femme wanted to desperately state how much she was disgusted with the plan but the small scratches still lingering on her neck reminded her why she didn't want to do so.

Jetdark narrowed his optics with his arms firmly folded across his chest. He didn't speak up against the plan like Thundernights did but he did not agree with the tactics being used in order to draw out Mario Prime. Over the many years he spent on Earth after he finally reawakened from his stasis lock, he had watched and studied what he considered to be strange creatures. He had seen humanity's vicious sides as he silently watched as humans used his altform as a weapon in war, but he had also seen their compassionate and kind side when he often heard some soldiers still show remorse for the enemies they struck down and hoping that they would be able to return to their families. He had seen humans fight for honor and he had seen humans fight for greed. In the end, from watching all of humanity's actions, it reminded him of Cybertronians themselves.

The orange mech was awakened from his thoughts when he heard Wartscream complain "See, Mario Prime isn't going to show up! If you had gone with my plan instead, the Autobots would be crushed by now!"

Bowsertron sighed in annoyance before replying "Wartscream, just because I won't offline you because of the fact I find you useful doesn't mean I won't leave you in a mangled state to the point it'll take Orbital Cycles just to have you repaired."

"Eh if you ask me, I would go ahead and offline him. It would be doing everyone a huge favor." Skyreala commented with a smirk.

Wartscream snarled in rage before punching the black and purple mech in the face, causing him to immediately yell in rage and get into a fistfight. Vectorwave took a step back as the two began tumbling around on the floor, punching and kicking while screaming insults at each other.

"That's it, if anyone needs me, I'll be going out for a flight." Thundernights said before leaving the room.

As the two mechs continued to fight, Jetdark glanced over at Bowsertron to see the Decepticon Leader grumbling to himself as he shuttered his optics and his digits slightly pinch the bridge of his nose plates that rested above his muzzle out of frustration. This prompted the orange mech to snicker to himself, finding it amusing that after being gone for millions of years, nothing had changed with the Decepticons.

Meanwhile at the Ark, both Ratchet and Angelight were going over the blueprints for Spacebridge. The green femme sighed as she glanced over at the medic who studied the blueprints silently. It still frustrated her how her memory logs couldn't remember a single thing from the supposed infamous event that landed the two of them in a Decpeticon prison. The earliest she could remember was waking up on a berth with many wires attached to her exposed processor and pain coursing throughout her entire chassis. She recalled Ratchet standing over her with a guilty expression as he nervously tightly gripped the medical tools in his servos. She remembered lifting up her servo in an almost trance-like state and pressing it against the medic's helm before transferring a strange code into the medic's processor, prompting him to jerk away with a shocked expression before he was immediately led out of the room by two Autobot soldiers as she slipped into darkness once more.

"Angelight, careful with those tools! I need those!" Ratchet shouteded, awakening her from her memories.

Angelight glanced her hazel optics downward to see her servos had almost crushed a needle gun in her tight grasp. Immediately she whispered an apology before dropping the tool back on the tray, discovering that she had unintentionally left an imprint from her grip on the handle.  
But before Ratchet could say anything, the sound of beeping alerted him to an incoming call from his comm link.

He pressed a digit against his helm, responded to the call by saying "Ratchet here, what's you situation?"

"Ratchet, ah thank Primus you're the one that answered!" Luigibee's voice shouted in relief, revealing himself to be the caller, "The Dinobots are attacking the city and Cliffalcon and I are struggling to keep them distracted. Also Daisy's hurt and she needs you to look at her."

"Luigibee, I can't treat..." the medic started to state.

But he immediately found himself cut off by the yellow mech shouting "Except she ain't human! One of the Dinobots hurt her and the wound revealed circuitry and she was bleeding energon. I don't know much about Earth's humans and their technology but I know they don't have circuitry and even if she was a human built robot, there shouldn't be energon pouring from her wound, only us Cybertronians have energon running through our systems. I'm telling you there's more than meets the eye with this."

Ratchet was speechless upon hearing this. He couldn't believe that one of their human companions mysteriously had possibly Cybertronian technology within them, leaving him to wonder how that could be possible since no Cybertronian in history had been able to take on the shape of an organic.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he turned toward Angelight and said "Angelight, get Wheelegad to help the blueprints."

The green femme nodded her helm before Ratchet quickly dashed to the Commander room where he found Mario Prime looking over different reports on Mastertran-1. Wasting no time, the Medic immediately informed the Autobot Leader of Cliffalcon's and Luigibee's situation.  
Mario narrowed his optics when he heard the Dinbots had been attacking innocent humans in the city; he hated that innocent creatures that had nothing to do with their war was suffering the ultimate price.

"Bowsertron, is obviously having the Dinobots do this in order to draw my attention. Unfortunately his plan has succeeded. I shall accompany you to the city and try to subdue the Dinobots any way I can. Though I know this feat will be impossible without the aid of Swoopdo and Snarldile, I can't let anymore innocent lives die to draw me out." he said.

At that moment a female voice spoke up "Then you'll want me to be there too."

The Prime immediately turned around to see none other than Peach-One standing behind him.

The red and blue mech sighed before starting to object only for Peach to hold up her servo with a stern look painted on her face as she said "Mario, you don't need to try to protect me. I told you once and I'll tell you again, I'm going by my own free will, we are equals in this war and we shall fight as equals. I want to try to see if I can break through to Yoshilock, it's a slim chance but he might respond positively to a familiar face. If that doesn't work, I'm prepared to fight."

Mario remained silent at this response; he admired how strong willed the femme is but he knew he wouldn't forgive himself if anything were to happen to her on the battlefield. He glanced back at Ratchet only to see the mech raise his servos in front of him to silently tell him to leave him out of the discussion. seeing there was no way to change her mind, Mario agreed to Peach's request before the three of them quickly changed into their vehicle forms and sped out of the Ark.

Thundernights constantly cycled in air as she sped through the sky in her jet form. She was relieved that she was able to get some time away from her fellow Decepticons and get to study Earth more closely. Ever since she woken up, she had been amazed with Earth and the discovery of the organic creatures. She was interested in their growth and nature, and the fact they were able to strive for years without the need of mechanical parts or energon like the Cybertronians did. The femme kept flying until she noticed a strange orange plane in the forest clearing. Confused on why a vehicle would be there since from studying the maps in order to find energy, she knew planes weren't supposed in the woods.

Deciding to investigate, Thundernights carefully landed on the ground, doing her best to avoid the many trees as she changed back into her bipedal form. Her helm glanced around the area, making sure that no humans were nearby. When she was sure no one was around before leaning forward to get a better look at the plane. But unfortunately she didn't search well enough because the second she leaned forward, she was alerted to the sound of a gasp. She looked down to see a brown-headed man wearing a gray suit staring in shock at her.

The femme yelped as she jumped away, but because of her hasty actions, she ended up smashing and damaged her wings against a large cluster of trees. She clenched her denta as she slumped into a sitting position. She was about to reach back to check the state of her wings until she noticed the human still staring at her. Fearing that the other Decepticons may come for her and kill the human as soon as they spotted him, she charged up one of the rays attached to her gauntlets.

"Stay back or I'll ki... Oh who am I kidding, constantly shouting that I would kill you would be overdoing it." Thundernights started to yell but quickly shifted into a grumble as she lowered her weapon.

The man raised a brow as he silently examined the femme; he was surprised to see such advanced technology.

Finally he spoke up "You're quite interesting, I've built many robotic inventions in my time but I have never seen anything as advanced as you. Exactly where did you come from?"

Thundernights stared in shock at the human; she was stunned that for the first time since arriving to Earth, a human wasn't frightened to see her. She knew that was very different from Paula and her uncle who were practically shaking in fear from their presence. Reminded of her injury, she carefully reached back and brushed her digits along one of her wings. She immediately hissed in pain from the contact since wings on Seekers were very sensitive due to the fact they were most fragile part on their bodies and without them Seekers would be rendered flightless.

"Your wings seems to be bent slightly out of shape. I can easily fix that for you. Besides it would give me a better chance to get a closer look but don't worry I promise I won't mess with anything I'm not supposed to." the man suggested.

Thundernights glanced over at the human, while a part of her wasn't sure she could trust him, another part of her was surprised that a human was willing to reach out to help her. She had gotten injured many times in the past during the heat of battle but since many of their Decepticons believed in only the survival of the fittest, she usually had to bare through her injuries until she was able to reach Knockster to have the medic perform the necessary repairs. After a few moments in thoughts, the blue femme nodded her helm before reaching down her servo. She waited as the man grabbed a tool box before climbing into her servo. Once she was sure he was secure, she lifted her servo over next to her wing. Her gray wing flinched a bit when the man grabbed a wrench and began untightening a few bolts.

"Do you have a name by the way? I don't think I can just address you as robot." the man asked.

Before she could even think, the blue femme found herself quietly replying "Thundernights."

"Thundernights, definitely not a name you would hear around here. Well I assume it's safe to introduce myself as well, I am Jean Descole but I prefer people simply address me as Descole." he replied as he continued the repairs.

Back at the city, Daisy clenched her teeth while Jeff held onto her hand. She knew if she didn't get any attention she would ended up dying from her wound. Many thoughts were running through her mind at the fact she wasn't truly human and it lead her to think back to her mysterious dream with the two robots fighting each other till one of them died before her vision was filled with a bright flash. She began to wonder if those two robots were connected to her mysterious origins and if she were to find one of them then she would perhaps get answers to what she was. But she was awakened from her thoughts when pain coursed throughout her body. She gasped in pain as her hand tightened around Jeff's tighter.

"Jeff, they aren't going to make it in time." she said in a weak tone.

"Don't say things like that, Daisy! You're going to make it!" Jeff exclaimed, discouraging the girl from negative thoughts.

The young girl remained silent as she laid her hand on her chest. At that moment the familiar blue glow formed underneath her hands as her eyes glowed brightly blue as well. After a few seconds the glow faded away and her eyes glanced over at Jeff's bag.

"Jeff, you're laptop is connected to Mastertran-1 at all times right?" she asked.

When the blond-headed boy nodded his head, Daisy rolled up the sleeves of her dress and squeezed her eyes shut. Within seconds seam lines formed in her skin and two panels slid back to reveal connections ports on each of her arm.

"I need you to access the files that go by the codename 'Project - ARCEE' you need to upload those files into me, it's the only way to save my life." she said before laying flat on the ground.

Jeff opened his mouth to reply but he saw the girl already had her mind set. With a sigh, he dug into his bags and grabbed a couple of wires along with his laptop. He hooked the wires into the computers and into the two ports on Daisy arms. Without a word he quickly accessed Mastertran-1's files and found the one Daisy asked him to look for. The second he started uploading the files, Daisy's snapped her eyes wide open as they glowed brightly and white circuitry lines appeared all over her body. Before Jeff's very eyes, her wound closed up and her body began to shift and change.


	16. Project Arcee

Chapter 16

The sound of screeching tires filled the air as Luigibee sped toward the Dinobots. He slammed both of his servos together upon changing them into his stingers, sending a strong blast of electricity toward them. Unfortunately much to his frustration the electricity barely left a dent on the Dinobots' armor. He knew both he and Cliffalcon wouldn't last much longer since they were going up against upgrades created by one of Cybertron's most brilliant minds. But before he could utter a single word, the yellow mech found himself slammed against Klag's head with his horns piercing his sides and holding him in place. He cried out when Klag slammed him against wall. Static filled both his vision and his audio receptors, making it hard to keep a grasp on his surroundings.

At that moment he heard someone yell out his name before feeling the Dinobot's horns get pulled out his chassis. At first he thought it was Cliffalcon but when his vision cleared, he was confused when he saw a large femme. Luigibee shuttered his optics a few times as he examined her bright white and pink armor. At first he thought the femme was with Peach's troop until he remembered that she did not have any femmes with the armor coloration before him. He nearly jumped in surprise when the femme sharply turned toward him to reveal a white plate hiding away most of her face where the only thing the mech could see was her bright glowing blue optics.

"Don't worry, Luigi. I'll take care of this." the femme insured.

Stunned at the femme's comment, Luigibee started to exclaim "Wait, how do you know my..."

Unfortunately he was cut off by the angry roar of Yoshilock, shortly followed by the scream of Cliffalcon as he was sent flying and crashed on the ground next to the yellow mech.

"Please don't tell me you tried to ride one of the Dinobots again." Luigibee grumbled.

"More like I was knocked on Yoshilock's back by Pledge's tail and held on for dear systems." the red mech immediately answered.

But before any of the mechs could say another word, their attention was drawn toward the sound of the femme activating two blue arm blades.  
The femme narrowed her optics before charging toward the Dinobots. She barely managed to dodge the swipe of Pledge's tail before slamming her servos against the Dinobot's underbelly, prompting a small blue glow to emit from it for a few seconds before quickly fading away.

"Aim for Pledge's head, due to the weight of her new form if you unsteady her she'll easily topple over!" she shouted.

"Got it!" Cliffalcon replied before charging toward the robotic Apatosaurus.

An excited smirk form on his face as his servo heated up as he formed it into a fist. With a yell he leapt up with a firey punch, successfully smashing against Pledge's neck. He yelled happily when the Dinobot cried out as she stumbled over, only to flinch when she managed to crash into and destroy one of the nearby buildings. Seeing that Pledge was temporarily out of the fight, the femme directed her attention toward Klag.  
The robotic triceratops snarled as he dragged one of his feet on the ground, getting ready to charge once more.

"Buddy, you really need to work on your strategies, I suggest not charging all the time." the femme mocked as she rolled out of the way of the charging Dinobot.

When Klag quickly whipped around his head, he was confused when the femme patted her servo against his head for a brief seconds before taking off.

"Hit him around back, his armor is weaker there and he has a harder time dodging!" she stated.

Luigibee nodded before blasting his stingers at Klag's back. Much to his happiness, the Dinobot roared as he tried to get out of the way of the shots before collapsing on the ground with a groan.  
The femme narrowed her optics as she set her sight on the last remaining Dinobot. Without warning she jumped up and got a small boost from the thrusters attached to her back, sending her propelling forward toward the robotic T-Rex. She swung back her arm, ready to strike Yoshilock with one of her arm blades, but at that moment waves of electricity engulfed her entire chassis. She screamed in pain as her thrusters died out and her arm blades disappeared before she fell onto her servos and knee-joints.

She clenched her denta tightly as her vision was filled with many warning messages. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a snarl and saw Yoshilock glaring at her as he reared back his head, preparing to snatch her up into his jaws. Fortunately both to her surprise and relief, Luigibee lunged for her and managed to tumble with her on the ground to safety, out of the reach of the Dinobot's jaws.

"Th-thanks." she uttered before hissing in pain.

Luigibee was fixing to ask the femme what was wrong until he saw her plate covering most of her face slid away. His spark nearly stopped pulsing and his vents cycled in sharply. He couldn't believe that the femme in his arms was none other Daisy. Many questions started running through his processor, such as how his injured friend managed to change herself into a femme, what happened to her wounds, and what had become of her human form. His thoughts were cut off when he saw Yoshilock start charging toward the two of them with his unbroken red optic glowing brightly. A small angry growl rumbled from the yellow mech's voice box as he started charging up his stingers, ready to protect his friend at all cost.

But before he could fire, at that moment Mario Prime slammed into the Dinobot's side, knocking him to the ground with a loud smash.  
Yoshilock shook his helm before turning toward the Prime, seeing him armed with his axe. He unleashed a primal yell before transforming back to his Cybertronian form and summoning his red sword from subspace. Within seconds the two Cybertronians clashed their weapons against each other.

As the two leaders battled, Ratchet and Peach quickly ran over to Luigibee and Daisy. The medic's optic-ridges raised in shock when he saw the femme in the yellow mech's arm, stunned that Daisy had the ability to even take on the form. He snapped out of his shock when Daisy cried out in pain once more as more waves of electricity engulfed her chassis.

"Luigibee, what happened to leave her like this?" Ratchet asked.

"Actually I can answer that!" a voice yelled.

The medic turned his helm to see Jeff running toward him with a worried frown pasted on his face.

Once the young boy reached the group of Autobots, he explained "Daisy said she wouldn't have made it if she waited for you guys. So she had me access Mastertran-1 from my labtop and upload some program called 'Project: ARCEE'. The files were apparently upgrades pacifically created for her should the time comes, but I have no idea why she's experiencing these side effects."

Upon hearing this, Ratchet let out an annoyed grunt before replying "But I do. I know what 'Project: ARCEE' is. The Cybertronian Council wasn't sure if I would be able to successfully recover Angelight's Memory Logs after the Decepticon Prison incident so they had plans for a replacement. Vector Sigma created the protoform and the council entrusted its protection to Lucariotron while they created a program that when the time came, they would download it into the protoform's processor, making her the super soldier and spy intelligence that would be named Arcee . Some of the program was successfully implemented but then the Decepticons attacked, all was discovered was Lucariotron's lifeless chassis and the empty chamber that once stored the protoform. No one knew what happened, till now that is."

"Wait so you're saying that I'm actually some Cybertronian robot named Arcee?" Daisy exclaimed before flinching in pain.

"Well..." the medic started, taking a pause in thought before continuing, "Yes and no. Look I don't have all the pieces yet but right now I need to have you temporarily deactivated. Your systems are rejecting the upgrades because of your organic half and its searching for protocols that don't exist in your body. If it keeps up it'll kill you. I can't remove the upgrades because the damage has been done and your body is trying to accommodate for it. Once I find a way for your new form to co-exist with your organic form, I'll reactivate you."

The pink and white femme bit her lip before answering "Alright, Ratchet. I trust you."

Ratchet nodded his helm and without another word he brought out a small electric injector. He pressed it against Daisy's arm before pulling the trigger. Within seconds her optics deactivated and she laid lifeless on the ground.

"I need to treat her back at the Ark. Luigibee, load her into the back and both you and Cliffalcon head back with me, I'll need to tend to both of your wounds." he stated as he transformed into an ambulance.

"I'll stay with Mario and try to stop the Dinobots from doing more harm. Take Jeff with you, I don't him suffer as a casualty." Peach said.

The two mechs nodded their helms before Luigibee placed Daisy in the back of the ambulance and he changed into his car form. Peach remained still for a few moments, making sure her fellow Autobots got away safely until she was alerted to the sound of Mario's yell. She quickly ran to him just in time to see him shove Yoshilock away as he held his free servos over the large tear created from the Dinobot's sword in his shoulder. Quickly acting, the femme commander summoned her blaster from subspace and blasted Yoshilock in the shoulder.

The gray mech snarled as smoke flowed of his now damaged shoulder as he turned toward the femme. But when he saw her he raised his optic-ridges in confusion, sensing strangely an aura of relief and comfort seemingly surrounding the pink femme. He grew even more confused when he felt like he had experienced those feelings before. His vents gently kept cycling in air as he stared at Peach's blue optics, not only seeing the strong and stern emotions of a leader but pleading one as well that he felt he once carried for a person he could not recall.

"Yoshilock, you need to snap out of it. It's me, Peach-One!" she shouted.

Yoshilock stared at the femme closely with some sparks emitting from his broken optic. He didn't know why but she seemed familiar as corrupted image memories of static mixed with the colors of pink, blue, and gold entered his processor. Unknown to him, his optics began flickering between the colors blue and red.

"Yoshilock... hurt... Yoshilock." he struggled to say but unfortunately pain coursed through his processor whenever he tried to speak, causing his words to come out gargled and messy.

But his might wasn't enough and the faint memory of his encounter in the tunnels faded away along with his thoughts.

Within an instant he engulfed his sword in fire and swung at the femme.  
Peach barely dodged the attack, hitting the ground with a grunt before quickly scampering back over to Mario. They both narrowed their optics when they saw both Pledge and Klag transform back into their Cybertronian forms as they summoned their respective weapons that were engulfed in fire as well. The two nodded at each other before getting in a defensive stance, ready to face their opponents.

Back with Thundernights, she silently ran her servo over her newly repaired wing before glancing down at Descole.

"You really are good with machinery like you claim." she commented.

"I've had my hand at creating contraptions. In fact I once knew a robotic organism that is similar to your race that existed here thousands of years ago. She was a Golem. They were created by an ancient race, originally meant to be just mindless machines but they gained sentience and along with that feelings." he replied.

"What happened to her?" the blue femme asked out of curiosity.

Upon hearing this, the brown-headed man's body froze before releasing a loud sigh and answering "She unfortunately died along with the rest of her kind. I wanted to save her but she couldn't prevent it. All of her kind had to die in order to insure the survival of humans."

Thundernights was stunned at the answer she had received; she was surprised to learn of another robotic race that had grown to learn to feel. She was a little saddened that the race had to be killed in order to insure the survival of all life on Earth since in her mind, the outcome would have ended badly either way. Even if the Golems had succeeded in destroying all life on Earth and starting from scratch, they still would be extinguishing a race much like humans were forced to do.

She remained silent for a few more moments before finally speaking up "I'm sorry for your loss, Descole. By the sound of it, you truly did care for her."

"She was kind of like a daughter to me. I think she would have liked you if she had met you." he replied with a sad smiled.

The blue femme released a small huff before answering "No she wouldn't. She wouldn't like a Cybertronian who willingly aligned herself with a corrupt leader all because she wanted to keep a pitiful spawn of Ridleycron in check but has battled against strong and brave Cybertronians and has contributed to war that has nearly destroyed our dying planet with the energon of those she was forced to kill even on her servos though she desperately wanted to protect them."

Descole raised a brow upon hearing this in confusion. While he didn't want to admit to her, he was surprised that he was finding common ground with her. He knew what it was like to purposely align with the wrong side in order to protect those close. He sighed as the memory of his brother came to his mind, making him wondering if his brother even believed he was alive or simply brush him off as dead and moved on with life. He was awakened from his thoughts when he heard the sound of Thundernights grumble in frustration.

"I've been here for too long, I need to head back to base before Bowsertron sends one of the other Decepticons to tracks me down and if they see you they won't be keen on letting you live." she said as she stood up.

"Kind of figured they were those kind of people. Well I guess all I can do is wish you the best." Descole said.

Thundernights was fixing to take off until she paused in thought. Descole had proved himself very helpful and it made her wonder exactly what kind of advantage the Autobots would have with an organic mechanic. She knew Mario's troop only had Ratchet while the two other Autobot medics Red Amy and First Clank were back on Cybertron. At that moment a grin formed on her face when she got an idea.

"Wait, there is a way I can help the Autobots. I can send them you!" she exclaimed.

"Pardon?" the brown-headed man responded with a raised brow and his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"Look let me explain, I have been in many battles and when Bowsertron isn't formulating a plan to take out Mario Prime, he usually has us attack areas of the Autobot base. Perferrable the Medbay." Thundernights started, "He doesn't want to only take out the wounded but also the medics as well because he knows without them, many Cybertronians would go offline from their wounds. But Bowsertron hasn't accounted for a human medic. So if anything happens to the Autobot's medic, they can still rely one you because Bowsertron wouldn't be the wiser to your existence."

"Thundernights, you're asking a human to take part of your war. I've already been in enough conflict as is and for once I would like to try to live out the rest of my days peacefully." Descole stated.

"Descole, I understand the feeling of living in peace. There have been many orns I've been tempted just to abandon both the war and Cybertron altogether and seek out a distant colony. But I've stayed strong and played my part in this war. All I ask is you please do this one thing that can possibly be the only thing I can do to ally the Autobots because I know the moment I leave the Decepticons is the moment Skyreala will have his way and I can't let that happen. I've already witnessed one human die by his servos, I refuse to allow another." she pleaded.

Descole thought deeply about the offer given to him. He could see the femme before him truly cared for life but was willing to push aside her morals to try to help save that life just to keep her deadly companion in line, even if meant ultimately in the end she would be looked upon just as cruel as the Decepticons she sided with.

Finally after a few moments of silence he answered "Alright, I suppose I could. My old friend died some time ago, leaving nothing for me here. I suppose I can help these Autobots."

Thundernights smiled before saying "Thank you, Descole. You'll find the Autobots based in their crashed ship known as the Ark that's crashed and buried in a mountain about forty-one, I believe you call them miles, southeast of here."

"I'll keep that in mind." Descole said with a nod of his head.

Without another word, Thundernights jumped up in the air, transforming into her jet form and speeding off.  
The brown-headed man sighed as he watched the femme take off, before truning back to his airship, planning to gather some of things in preparation for the trek to the Autobot base. But as he walked, unknown to himself, a small smile formed on his face when he realized that Thundernights' loved for Earth's life remind him of how the Golem he cared for shared that same love to the point she tearfully accepted the fate of death just so that life could continue to thrive.

Quietly he muttered to himself "You're wrong, Thundernights. Aurora would have liked you very much."


	17. Sleeping Instincts

Chapter 17

Peach's engine revved loudly as she activated the shields on her gauntlets and managed to block the swipe from Pledge's fiery axe, clenching her denta tightly upon doing so and used all her strength to shove the femme away from her. She took a second to glance back at Mario to see the red and blue mech trapped in a struggle with Yoshilock as the two had a firm grasp on each other's weapons, using all their strength to keep the weapon from landing their respective blows. She wished that she could break through to the Dinobot and release him from the strong mind control Ganonwave had placed on him and his companions but she knew they needed to find out what the Decepticon Scientist had done to them in the first place to free them.

Peach was awakened from her thoughts by the sound of something charging up. She didn't know why but the sound seemed eerily familiar to her. Just then the memory came rushing back to her of her hearing the sound as she shoved a young Jump Pax out of the way before being blasted herself.

"Mario, look out!" she shouted.

Mario's optics widened and he turned his helm to see none other than Bowsertron flying in the air with his fusion canon ready to fire. With only a few seconds to act, the Prime quickly shoved Yoshilock away seconds before the fusion canon fired. The blast had sent him flying a few feet before he crashed harshly on the ground.  
Yoshilock grumbled as pain coursed throughout his chassis and he slowly sat up. He shook his helm, trying to get a grasp on his surroundings until finally his senses returned to him. The Dinobot's optics widened when he saw Mario struggling to stand back up only to be shoved back down to the ground by Bowsertron.

"Get away from him!" Peach shouted as she charged toward the gray mech.

Bowsertron turned toward the femme and formed a dark smirk on his face before forcing his pede down on the Prime's chestplates and aiming his fusion cannon directly at his helm.

"Not another step Peach-One or else Prime here will be offlined this instant." he threatened.

The femme commander immediately stopped in her tracks in horror. She glanced at Mario to see him silently pleading for her to ignore Bowsertron's threat and not worry about him. But while the leader apart of her was screaming to follow orders, the other part of her that deeply cared for the Prime didn't want to sacrifice him, especially since they were a dying race and every kill would only lead them more and more to their doom. Without any second thoughts, she sighed as she held out her blaster and dropped it on the ground before raising her servos in the air.

"I thought as much. That's the problem with both you and Prime here, you allow your feelings from making the more efficient choice. This is why I managed to conquer so much of Cybertron, because I was willing to push away my personal feelings to accomplish my goals. In fact because Prime foolishly chose to shove Yoshilock out of the way of my fusion cannon, he got himself in this situation." Bowertron mocked.

Yoshilock was stunned upon hearing this. It shocked him that the Prime had chose to save him instead of himself but he couldn't figure the reason why. Ever since he had awakened in Ganonwave's lab, he only had one instinct and that was attack anything on sight that he was commanded to. He couldn't recall any instincts to protect others and look out for allies but rather to march forward into battle as a mindless killing machine. He was awakened from his thoughts to see the other Dinobots hiss as the wounds they received from battle had finally caught up to them.

His whipped his helm to the side to see Wartscream arrive with his seeker comrades when he heard the sound of jets fill the air.

"Ah perfect timing. Wartscream, I need you and the rest of your trine to take both Prime and Commander Peach-One back to the base. With these two as our prisoners it should be rather easy to convince the last bit of resistance on Cybertron and here on Earth to surrender and once their forces are crumbled, I shall finally get rid of Prime once and for all." Bowsertron stated, forcing his pede down on Mario's chestplates a bit harder upon doing so.

"What about the Dinobots, it looks like they were a little damaged during the battle." Thundernights pointed out with a frown.

"I have no concern with them, right now my only concern is dealing with Prime and Peach-One." the grey mech replied with a hint of a growl.

Yoshilock snarled slightly when he heard the Decepticon Leader utter those words. He didn't know why but the thought of the mech allowing his comrades to continue suffering from their wounds enraged him. At that moment he hissed in pain when pain coursed through his processor once more, threatening to lock away his thoughts just like before. He clenched his denta tightly as he struggled to keep a grasp on his thoughts, refusing to let them fade like last time. He struggled and struggled and much to his surprise, his struggles earned him a faint image of two figures. He couldn't get a clear image of the memory log but fortunately he was able to make out that it was a femme helping him carry an injured mech.

But much to the Dinobot's frustration, the memory was locked away before he could process who the two figures were. His unbroken optic glanced over to see Skyreala getting ready to seize Peach while Bowsertron kept Mario pinned to the ground. Despite the fact he couldn't understand the feelings of the need to protect, Yoshilock was certain about one thing. Without warning he changed into his dino form before charging into Bowsertron and knocking him off of Mario. He snapped his jaws at the grey mech who grasped ahold of his neck in attempt to shove him off.

"Lady... bot and Prime... me... Yoshilock... protect! Run!" the Dinobot shouted, struggling to find words to say due to the pain coursing through his processor.

Seeing that Mario was now alright, Peach quickly bashed her elbow-joint into Skyreala's torso, prompting the black and purple mech to bend over in pain before she swept her leg underneath him and knocking him off his pedes. Not wasting any time, she quickly picked up her blaster and ran over to Mario, grasping his servo firmly as she helped him stand up once more.

"We need to go now. Yoshlick has managed to temporarily break the hold over him but I don't know how much it will last." she stated.

The red and blue mech nodded his helm in agreement; while he didn't want to leave Yoshilock behind to suffer the consequences for resistance, he knew he wouldn't be any help to the Dinobots if he was captured. So without another word the two quickly changed into their vehicle forms and sped off.

"Don't just stand there! Stop them!" Bowsertron yelled in rage as he continued to try to force away Yoshilock.

"Heh, if you can't handle a single Dinobot then I don't see why I shouldn't be leader instead of you." Wartscream mocked proudly.

"Wartscream, shut up and follow orders!" Thundernights shouted in annoyance.

The two Decepticons were fixing to transform into their jet forms, but much to their shock, without warning they were both tackled to the ground by both Pledge and Klag who decided to help out after seeing their leader battling.  
Bowsertron snarled in annoyance before finally forcing Yoshilock far away from him enough to quickly aim his fusion canon at the Dinobot's chestplates and fired.  
Yoshilock roared in pain as the blast ripped through his body, creating a huge hole in his chassis that was only centimeters from missing his spark. He crashed loudly on the ground, prompting his Dinobots companions to stop attacking and rush over to their fallen leader.

Bowsertron's vents cycled in deeply as his red optics scanned the area, searching for any signs of the fleeing Prime and Femme Commander. Unfortunately much to his angry he saw no sign of the two in sight. A growl of anger managed to rumble from his voice box as he glared at the injured Dinobot.

After a few seconds of silence he finally shouted "Take them back to the base! Take care of the wounds and contact Ganonwave, I demand to know why we lost control over these supposed obedient soldiers!"

Wartscream, Thundernights, and Skyreala managed to get off the ground as they nodded their helms in understanding and made their way over to the Dinobots.

Back at the Ark, Angelight huffed as she tightened a bolt into place on the Spacebridge she and Wheelegad were working on. Using her free servos activated her holographic datapad to make sure she was getting the materials right. She looked over the details before letting out a grunt when she realized that a few details were still off and that if they weren't corrected it would only delay the progress.

"I'll still never understand how the Decepticons were able to put together a working Spacebridge. I mean how were they able to figure out how to construct a never before made creation?" she asked before picking up some more materials off of the ground.

"Well Vectorwave did always know his way around circuitry, that could be one of the biggest contributions." Wheelegad replied as he hooked together a few wires.

"But still if we could figure out how to set up the power source we should be all set." the green femme stated.

The two silently continued working on the Spacebridge, unaware when Bulkmurray walk up next to them and sat down with a slightly disturbed expression on his face.

Wheelegad easily noticed the large green mech and spoke up "Ah, Bulkmurray, what brings you over here?"

Bulkmurray's helm immediately jolted upwards, slightly surprised by the sudden voice before sighing and replying "Oh, didn't notice you guys were here. Ratchet wanted me out of the Medbay while he performs emergency repairs on Daisy. I wanted to be there to support Paula since she's worried about her friend but Ratchet said he wasn't going to risk me accidentally breaking any of his tools like I've done in the past."

"Oh right, I forgot you tend to do that. Well you're free to stay here while we work on the Spacebridge." the white mech replied before returning his attention to the circuitry.

Bulkmurray sighed as his optics mindlessly glanced over at Angelight in an attempt to take his mind off of his worried friend. He watched as the femme stomped her pede in frustration before making before adjustments on the Spacebridge. He focused closely on the diagrams on the datapad before examining the Spacebridge. He unconsciously hummed to himself when he saw that her problem was the power cables were simply set up wrong but didn't speak up because he wanted to see if she could figure it out herself. A few minutes passed and much to his surprise, Angelight had still failed to notice the mistake he could easily see. He directed his attention over to Wheelegad to see the mech was still much too busy fixing up the circuitry in order to insure the controls for the Spacebridge would be able to function properly, otherwise he knew Wheelegad would had been able to see Angelight's problem.

Deciding he might as well be a help, the large green mech stood up and asked "Hey, Angelight, you mind I have I look at that energon power convertor engine you're working on?"

Angelight stared in silence, shuttering her optics a few times in disbelief. She didn't understand how a former Wrecker could help her with the construction of a Spacebridge but since she wasn't close to figuring out what mistakes she was making, she nodded her helm in agreement. She stepped back, allowing the green mech to kneel down next to the engine. Her mouth dropped open when within seconds Bulkmurray managed to easily change around the power cords and flipped a switch, prompting the engine to rumble to life with a bright cyan glow.

"How did you know what to do?" she exclaimed in shock.

Bulkmurray took a few seconds to stand up once more as he dusted off his servos before answering "Before the war, I was a laborer. Basically I built things and I destroyed things. Back then I had to work with this kind of stuff. Apparently the knowledge came in handy when I joined the Wreckers and sometimes helped Wheelegad construct bombs."

"Heh, I remember those times. Eh man those cons never saw them coming." Wheelegad commented with a snicker.

Angelight was impressed from Bulkmurray's response. She had no idea he was knowlegdable with machinery and had she known that earlier she would had asked him for help and save herself the trouble and frustration of trying to figure out the Spacebridge schematics. Without any hesitation she asked the mech if he would continue helping them with the construction of the Spacebridge, knowing with his help it would speed up the completion time. Much to her happiness Bulkmurray agreed since it figured it would take his mind off of Paula's worrying.

Back in the Medbay, Daisy groaned as she began feeling senses returning to her. The last thing she remembered was Jeff connecting wires into her arms and a bright blue glow filling her vision before her memories got fuzzy. She opened her eyes, only to be greeted with a bright light, prompting her to immediately squeeze shut her eyes once more. She inhaled deeply as she patted around her hand blindly, discovering she was lying on a large metal table with a blanket covering her body. Deciding to try to open her eyes once more, she slowly blinked open her eyes. She raised her brows in surprise when she found herself in the Ark's Medbay.

She hissed as she forced herself to sit up, discovering that she felt incredible weak. But when she did this, the blankets fell away, revealing her chest. Daisy immediately gasped before throwing the rest of the blanket off of her body, discovering she no longer had the appearance of a young girl but rather a young woman wearing an orange dress with a yellow stripe and, yellow leggings, orange shoes, and she now had articulation lines around her elbows and knees and a blue gem that contained yellow glowing energy on her chest.

Before she could even question her appearance, a female voice shouted "Hey she's awake!"

She turned her head to the side to see none other than Ness, Jeff, and Paula approaching along with Ratchet. Paula waited for Ratchet to lift them up so they could get on the berth before she ran over and carefully hugged Daisy.

"We were so worried when Ratchet rushed in the Medbay with you in his arms. A part of me was worried you wouldn't make it but Ratchet pulled through for us." Paula stated with a relieved sigh.

"Wait, exactly what happened? Last thing I remember is a blue glow." Daisy said with a small frown.

"The temporary memory loss would be the stasis gas I had to inject into your system in order to temporarily deactivate you. I didn't want you awake while I had to remove some of the upgrades the program you uploaded into yourself that couldn't coexist with your current form. I had to remove many weapons and functions but I fortunately left you with your scanning ability, arm blades, and palm blasters." Ratchet explained.

The ginger-headed woman was confused by this explanation until without warning the memories came rushing back to her. She remembered saving Luigibee, fighting the Dinobots, collapsing on the ground, and Ratchet explaining to her exactly what "Project: ARCEE" was.

"I did complete scan of your body... er I mean chassis." the medic started to explain, finding it hard to figure what terms to use due to the young woman's technorganic nature before continuing, "Anyways the scan showed that while half of you contained fifty percent organic material, the other half of you does indeed contain Cybertronian technology. With this it proves you are indeed the protoform that was thought to be lost in the war but I still have no idea how you ended up here on Earth."

"But that doesn't explain why I'm a technorganic. Based on the story you told me, the Cybertronian Council had no plans for me to be like this." Daisy commented.

But before anyone could speak, a voice answered "I believe I can answer that question."

Everyone turned their attention to the doorway to see Jeff's father Dr. Andonuts standing alongside Prowl who had dashed off to get him after Cliffalcon had got caught up in the battle with the Dinobots. The doctor took in a shaky breath as he was sat down next to Daisy's body. He swallowed nervously, feeling guilty that he had chosen to keep the knowledge he contained for so long from the technorganic. Gathering up his nerves, he decided to finally reveal Daisy origins.

_"Be sure not to stay up too late working doctor." one of the lab assistants warned as he and some others headed to the door._

_"Ah do not worry about my own health, I will be sure to get in a good night's sleep. Now off you all go, I desperately need to finish up some experiments." Dr. Andonuts responded in a stern tone._

_With that said the lab assistants left the lab, leaving the doctor alone. The doctor hummed in satisfaction before making his way back to his office. But when he opened the door, without warning a bright blue flash blinded him. He gasped in surprise as he tumbled to the ground, causing his glasses to clatter to the ground. He quickly sat up and began blindly feeling his hand along the ground, searching for his glasses. It only took a few seconds for him to successfully find them and slip them back on. But when he did, his body froze in shock when in the middle of his office he saw a pod with a small liquid-metal body curled up inside of it._

_Curiosity got the best of him as he got on his feet and slowly approached the pod. He didn't know what it was or where it had came from but he wanted to examine it. He began to reach out his hand, taking a moment to pause in hesitancy before pressing his hand against the glass. He jumped back in surprise when the pod hissed and the glass lid opened up, allowing cold air to rush out of the pod. Deciding to get a better look, Dr. Andonuts reached in the pod in order to pick up the strange creature. But the moment his hand made contact with the metal skin of the strange creature, a jolt of static zapped him. The doctor cried out in pain as the electricity changed his ginger hair to white and caused him to fall unconscious on the ground._

_He was unsure how long he was unconscious, all the doctor was aware of was the pain coursing through his body and his badly burnt hand. He groaned as he slowly sat up, trying to get a grasp on his surroundings once more. Just then his body froze when he heard the sound of a moan. He immediately turned around and scampered away despite hurting his injured hand more by doing so from what he saw. Instead of a metal-liquid body, he now saw a young girl with ginger hair with her body curled up and sleeping peacefully. He took in shaky breaths as he stared down at his burnt hand that began shaking with fear and uncertainty._

"I had no idea why you ended up like that but I knew I couldn't let anyone know where you came from. So I kept it a secret from everyone, including you and my own son." Dr. Andonuts finished with a sigh.

"I think I might know why." Ratchet started, "See besides using Mastertran-1's scanner and having the blueprints transferred directly into our processors, we also have built in scans to do the same thing. When you touched the protoform, you must have unintentionally activated its scans, prompting it to scan your DNA and as a result the protoform absorbed the DNA in order to take on the form it scanned, resulting in Daisy's creation."

"Okay but how come when you worked on me, why did I not revert back to my original form, why am I like this now?" Daisy asked in confusion.

The medic sighed, frustrated he was having to answer so many questions before answering "That was the upgrades doing. Like I said, your body was trying to accommodate for protocols that did not exist in your form, resulting in it speeding up the aging process of your body. The reason why you ended up as a young child in the past is because the information your processor gathered thanks to your scanning ability to gather information and it matched your up to the human equivalent age to your Cybertronian age. Now nobody better not ask any more questions."

Daisy was speechless as she glanced down at her hands, finding it hard to believe that so much time had passed since she stayed with Dr. Andonuts and she had no idea of her true Cybertronian nature. Part of her was angry for the doctor keeping this knowledge from her for so long while the other part of her finally understood while she felt such a strong connection with the Autobots and how she was able to access their injuries just by touching them.

"Um... Ratchet, I know you told us not to ask any more questions." Ness began while rubbing the back of his neck, earning a frustrated grunt from the medic, "But what is Daisy going to do now that we know that she's technorganic?"

But before the medic could even reply, Daisy immediately exclaimed "I'm going to help the Autobots with my new form!"

"What, have you lost your mind... or fried your logic circuits... I don't care is, point is you're not thinking clearly. You are aware that with this discovery we now know why Vectorwave was trying to capture you in the first place. If you go out there you'll just be an easier target for the Decepticons!" Ratchet shouted.

The technorganic remained silent as she lifted up her hand with her index finger extended before responding "But Vectorwave has only seen me in my human form, he was no idea about my Cybertronian form. As long they don't discover both forms belong to me, you should be fine."

"Yeah but doesn't Vectorwave know your name, if he hears any of the Autobots address you by your name." Jeff stated.

Daisy closed her eyes in thought, realizing that was a problem if Vectorwave heard her name being addressed by her name that he would know right away who she was. That was when she recalled Ratchet mentioning how her name was originally suppose to be Arcee before she ended up vanishing after the Decepticon attack.

Having came up with an answer she finally said with a smirk "Simple I'll just have the Autobots address me by a codename. My name is Daisy but I was originally going to be Arcee, so I'll just simply make my codename Daicee."


	18. Arrivals

Chapter 18

"By the Matrix we're finally in business!" Angelight shouted happily as the Spacebridge charged up and a bright light shot to the sky.

She, Wheelegad, and Bulkmurray stood back for a few seconds, trying to maintain their balance from the machine shaking the ground. It wasn't long for the light to die down with a small blast and the pod doors slid open to reveal none other than Swoopdo and Snarldile.  
The Dinobot femme groaned as her she held her servos against her helm while her chassis wobbled, having lost her bearings from being transported from Cybertron to Earth. Her optics activated when she heard a loud bang, prompting her to look next to her to see Snarldile tried to walk but ended up falling flat on his face due of the lack of balance.

"You know, for once I would like to not get hurt anymore." the Dinobot mech grumbled, his voice muffled by the ground.

"I guess your sensor programs get a little mixed up from being tossed through time and space at top speeds." Wheelegad commented as he walked over and helped Snarldile up while Bulkmurray helped Swoopdo regain her sense of balance.

As the two Dinobots recovered, Angelight explained how they discovered the Decepticons were using Yoshilock and the other Dinobots to fight for them by controlling them through unknown means and Mario Prime wanted them to fight and defeat them so they could bring them back to the Ark so that Wheelegad could undo the damage Ganonwave had caused.  
Upon hearing this, Swoopdo's optics glanced down in the ground in guilt and she clenched her servos. She knew Yoshilock wouldn't be under Decepticon control if he hadn't had to sacrifice himself in order to insure hers and Snarldile's escape.

She took in a deep sigh before replying "Alright, we understand. Yoshilock helped save us, well it's our turn to save him and the rest of our team. Just tell us what we need to do."

Seeing they understood their orders, Wheelegad had the two Dinobots follow them to the commander room. As they did this, they managed to pass by Ratchet who was on his way to see Bulkmurray.  
When he saw the medic, the green mech didn't waste any time dashing over to him and asking about Daisy's condition. Much to his relief, he was happy to hear she was recovering perfectly but he was stunned at the revelation she originated from Cybertron and she became a technorganic when her scanners absorbed some of Dr. Andonuts' DNA and that now she intends to join the ranks of the Autobots under the codename Daicee.

"Are you sure that's alright, I mean she doesn't have any combat training like us." Bulkmurray stated.

"I got that covered, I've asked Espiowl to train her. Personally I'm against the idea but she insisted she wanted to help us as repayment for saving her in the first place." Ratchet replied.

"Oh, so I guess it's alright if I go talk to Paula? She was really worried." the green mech asked.

"I don't see any harm in it, especially since she's no longer in the Medbay." the medic replied, his voice gaining a hint of a growl near the end of his sentence upon remembering all the times the large mech accidentally destroyed many of his tools.

Bulkmurray nodded his helm in understanding before walking away without a word. It wasn't long till he managed to see Paula sitting in the hallway alone and much to his surprise she was creating small shards of ice within her hands. Decided to alert her to his presence, he coughed loudly, causing her to gasp loudly and send an ice shard flying. They both flinched nervously when they were greeted with Espiowl walking toward them while pulling the ice shard out of the crest of his helm.

"I advise to be more mindful when you're experimenting with your psychic powers. I already get enough trouble with Ness experimenting with his." he muttered before leaving the two alone.

Bulkmurray smiled nervously as he apologized and sat down next to the young girl. But much to his disappointment he saw the young girl release a sad sigh as she propped her arms and head up by her knees.

"Hey, why so sad? I thought you would be overjoyed that Daisy recovered." he asked out of confusion.

Paula sighed once more before replying "I am but I'm kind of worried about her wanting to join in this war between you guys and the Decepticons. In truth I've been frightened of the Decepticons ever since I've witnessed their power. It was horrifying to see my uncle die by their hands and the more and more time I grow fond of you Autobots, the more I worry that the Decepticons will only take you guys away as well. I'm scared to lose anyone else."

The large mech at the girl's confession and grew a little saddened when he heard her trying to hold back her tears. He knew that she was far too young to be pulled in a war she was never meant to be involved with in the first place, meaning that it would be harder for to cope with the casualties of war. Silently he sighed as he shuttered his optics.  
Paula froze when she felt a strange tingling sensation on her back. She lifted her head to see that Bulkmurray was using the holoform that he purposely made look like her uncle. She sniffed her nose as she reached out her hand and ran it down the holoform's arm, watching as the image distorted a bit from the contact of her fingers. The young girl swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat before she leaned closer to the holoform, allowing him to embrace her. She took in shaky breaths as she could feel the tingling sensations around her back and face. Her blue eyes glanced up to see the holoform smiling at her even though he couldn't truly embrace her.

Paula couldn't help but smile, finding the image of deceased uncle smiling at her comforting before closing her eyes and whispering "Thank you, Bulkmurray. While I don't know what may happen in the future, right now I'm at least glad I have a good friend like you."

Back at the Decepticon Base on Cybertron, Ganonwave was communicating with Vectorwave as he had different tubes containing different liquids and one of them contained Peach's energon on a counter.

"So let me see if I got this straight, you're saying when you were gathering materials for the Spacebridge, you actually encountered a human that scans revealed had Cybertronian technology within her?" he asked with a raised optic ridge.

Vectorwave nodded his helm as he replied "Yeah. I wanted to report this to Lord Bowsertron but he's too preoccupied with the Dinobots at the moment, especially since we mysteriously lost control over Yoshilock. So telling you was all I could do for the moment."

"Yes that is problematic, but back to this human, was she a Cybertronian that only took on the appearance of a human?" the purple mech replied.

"No, my scans informed me that she contained both organic material and Cybertronian material within her." Vectorwave answered.

Ganonwave hummed in response as he reached his servo up and tapped his digits against his helm. It intrigued him that a technorganic was possible especially since he read up about the experiments done by ancient Cybertronian scientists in order to create such a being. Ever since he got ahold of the records that were thought to be long deleted under the orders of Phoenix Prime, he became intrigued by the idea of technorganics, especially since the scientists were ordered to perform the experiments by Terra Prime. While none of the scientists succeeded due to many of their test subjects vanishing and others dying due to the organic and technology clashing with each other, Ganonwave wanted to complete their work and with the accomplishment he could create an army.

"Well I'm very glad you informed me of this, Vectorwave. I will be sure to pass the information along to Bowsertron when he's finally free to speak." the Decepticon scientist stated.

Vectorwave narrowed his optics upon hearing this; he didn't know why but the way the Decepticon on the screen worded his sentence gave him a sense of distrust and suspicion. While he knew that the purple mech had proven to be very loyal to their leader, especially by staying true to his word and leaving Cybertron the way they left it for over four million years, he couldn't help but suspect that the Scientist was planning something. With a sigh the blue mech decided to push the thought to the back of his processor for a moment and end the comm.

Once he saw the screen shut off, Ganonwave turned his attention to Peach's energon before picking up a vial tube that had the label "Sample 2007 - A7." He didn't say a word as he placed the two samples in a large pod and activated it. His yellow optics glanced over at the screen as results began rapidly flashing on screen, showing that Peach's energon was slowly starting to change.

Back at the Ark, Mario and Peach arrived as they changed back into their bipedal forms. The pink femme was fixing to speak until much to her surprise the Prime spun toward her with an angry expression on his face.

"Why did you give into his demands? If Yoshilock hadn't broken out of the control he was under, Bowsertron would have guaranteed victory in this war!" he demanded.

Peach was at first shocked by his anger before narrowing her optics in frustration and exclaiming "I wasn't about to flee like a coward and leave you to die. Even without Yoshilock, we still would have figured something out. I care for you and I know that these Autobots need you as their leader with Phoenix and Mayabane gone. Besides I couldn't stand the thought of letting Bowsertron kill you by acting hastily!"

"They would still have you. Should anything happen to me and I'm not able to choose a successor as the next Prime, you'll have to lead them. If we both fall, it would put the Autobots at a serious disadvantage. I'm willing to sacrifice myself for others but I want no one to sacrifice themselves for me, especially you." the red and blue mech stated as his vents cycled loudly, "Which is why you should have taken down Bowsertron, even if it was the cost of my life."

"Why do you not want to have anyone sacrifice themselves for you? Mario, everyone is looking toward you to guide them out of this Matrix Forsaken war. Can't you see you're not some Primus pawn in this war; you're still a living being that deserves to live. So why do you insist that you're just a worthless piece that can easily be replaced?" the femme pointed out.

Mario clenched his denta tightly before grabbing Peach by her shoulders and said "Peach, I know you can't bear to see me die. I understand the feeling with the burden I have to carry. But you're letting your personal feelings cloud your judgement. I know you deeply care for me, I deeply care for you as well, but sacrifices are required and I would prefer I be that sacrifice over anyone else. This isn't like the time you took the shot for me back in the Energon Storage Warehouse. Back then I was Jump Pax but now I'm Mario Prime. We all must play our parts in this war and we can't let feelings blind our decisions."

Peach's blue optics softened as she frowned and lowered her helm. Her spark ached in sadness, remembering when she had heard the speech before when they had both agreed that they wouldn't become sparkmates for the sake of the war. While she disagreed with the mech's mindset, she did understand it from the viewpoint of a soldier. She couldn't afford to allow herself to get captured along with Mario; otherwise they would simply be giving the Decepticons the upper hand. She sighed as she lifted her helm and finally nodded it slowly to show she understood, no matter how much she wanted to go against it.

Without a word, Mario gently released her shoulders and they both walked back to the Ark. He was glad to see that she had accepted his explanation because what he had told her was only partially the truth. The true reason he didn't want her to sacrifice herself for him was because he couldn't stand the thought of her falling in battle because of him. He understood that the femme was willing to fight valiantly in battle alongside him but he was willing to make sure that she wouldn't throw down her own life just for his safety. Mario wanted to make sure that if he perished in order to achieve victory that Peach would at least get to continue to live on a peaceful Cybertron.

It only took the two commanders a few minutes to enter the Command Room to see Zeldia, Ironlink, and Wheelegad talking to Swoopdo and Snarldile, bringing the two Dinobots up to speed.

Zeldia spotted the two and smirked when she put her servos on her hipplates and teased "It's about time you two both showed up. Angelight finally got the Spacebridge working with help and the Dinobots here arrived not too long ago. You both were gone so long that I was starting to think you both went off to forge a Sparkbond."

Mario immediately opened his mouth, ready to object to the notation only for Peach to lay her servo on his shoulder and shake her helm as a way to silently telling him that her friend was only joking. Understanding this, the Prime ignored the statement and proceeded to ask Ironlink about Daisy's state and if that Swoopdo and Snarldile were prepared both physically and mentally to battle their comrades.

Ironlink folded his arms firmly across his chest as he answered "According to Ratchet, Daisy recovered fine from the procedure and she has made it known that she wishes to join our ranks under the codename Daicee. She's still pretty badly weakened from the incident to the point she gets winded from just sitting up so Ratchet is having her stay in the Medbay until her strength recovers. As for the Dinobots, Swoopdo and Snarldile have been filled in and they both understand what they must do."

"So all that's left is to draw out the Dinobots without drawing the attention of the humans." Wheelegad stated.

Mario nodded his helm in agreement, knowing it would be wise to have the battle take place as far away from the humans as possible due to the Dinobots' destructive capabilities.

"We've been looking over some maps and there's a quarry about sixty kliks south of here. That should be the prefect spot since we wouldn't have to worry about anything being destroyed there. But the question that remains is how we'll lure the Dinobots there considering that Bowsertron would only want them to attack another populated area." Zeldia said as she tapped her digit against Mastertran-1's screen.

"I'll issue out a challenge to Bowsertron for a battle against the Dinobots and once they arrive, Swoopdo and Snarldile will attack." Mario stated.

Peach's helm immediately whipped to the side as she stared at the mech with a frown. She wanted to speak up that there could be a better plan than the Prime allowing himself to be bait but upon remembering his speech she remained silent. Forcing a smile on her face she summoned her blaster from subspace and charged it up.

"Me and my troop will be right behind you incase things don't go according to plan." she stated.

"Okay so we're all set, let's do this thing!" Ironlink shouted excitedly at the thought of getting action in battle.

But before they could set out, the ships alarms started going off, informing them that an unknown being was approaching the entrance of the ship. Believing it to be none other than a Decepticon, the group of Autobots immediately readied their weapons and dashed to the entrance of the ship. Once there they all got their weapons ready to fire and aimed at the door. Mario nodded his helm as he quickly pressed the panel and raised his free servo, silently telling his comrades to wait on his signal. He watched as the door slid open and his servo tightened around the handle of his ion blaster.

Once the door was fully opened he swung his servo, prompting his comrades to jump out from their hiding place. But before they could fire, they all froze when they saw standing before them wasn't a Decepticon but rather a human man with brown hair and brown crimson like eyes.

The man simply raised a brow at seeing all the blasters being aimed at him before speaking up "Well I would be lying if I wasn't expecting this response. The name's Descole."

At the moment Ironlink let out a groan of frustration as he lowered his blaster and complained "Oh why couldn't it been a Decepticon?"

"Were you wanting something to shoot at, is that why you're upset?" Zeldia asked.

The red mech's engine revved in frustration as he answered "A little, but what mainly ticks me off is that I made a bet with Jetpit about whether or not another human would show up and I just lost! I mean come on, a fifth human, doesn't that number seen huge to you?"

Upon hearing this the other Autobots stared at Ironlink with surprised expressions, prompting him to slap his servo against his helm when he remembered that the total of Autobots on Earth still vastly outnumbered the small number of humans.

"Hmm, I think I'm going to get along quite swimmingly here." Descole finally commented with a smirk, breaking the silence that filled the air.

Mario took in a deep sigh before saying "While I don't know how this human stumbled upon the Ark, we have no choice but to take him under our protection. So Ironlink, I'm assigning you as his Autobot Gaurdian."

With that the Prime walked away, wanting to get ready to prepare for the plan.  
Ironlink's mouth hung open in shock as his blue optics stared in shock at the human. Finally an angry and annoyed expression formed on his face at the thought of having to now watch a human, prompting his sparkmate to giggle slightly at his expression.


	19. Clash of the Dinobots

Chapter 19

The Autobot troop consisting of Peach, Ironlink, Zeldia, Jetpit, and Callister remained hidden behind some boulders in the quarry so they wouldn't be in the sights of Laserduck who was soaring the skies, searching for any signs of the Autobots. Peach's vents cycled in deeply as she pressed her back firmly against the boulder, trying to formulate a plan on how to lure Bowsertron and the Dinobots to the quarry since she figured the Decepticon Leader would be more keen toward the idea of sending out the Dinobots to attack once more. Her blue optics glanced over at Calliester who was making sure her blaster was ready to fire. At that moment an idea struck her.

"Calliester, you're pretty much like Vectorwave when it comes to systems and programming right?" she asked.

The red femme shrugged her shoulders before answering "I guess, I do have the capability to store cassettes in my chassis like Vectorwave but I hadn't simply received any yet."

"Then do you think you could send a recall signal and summon Laserduck to you, then you could give him the command to return to the Decepticons with the footage of Mario here in the quarry?" Peach suggested.

"Me, summon and command Laserduck?!" Calliester began to shout but quieted down when she saw the robotic duck swerve their direction before turning away to scout more and continuing "There's no possible way I should be able to do that. Surely Laserduck has frequency scanners so he would know when it's Vectorwave responding to him."

The femme commander did not reply, instead she summoned a small needle gun from her subspace. Without warning she pressed the needle gun firmly against the red femme's arm and pulled the trigger, earning a small yelp of pain from her. Before Calliester could even ask what she had done, Peach explained how the needle gun had contained nanites developed by Keiracer and they were designed for spy informants that once injected into their chassis, it would temporarily make their signals appear as Decepticon signals rather than Autobot. She had injected the nanites into her chassis so that when Callister sends out the command signal to Laserduck, the Decepticon should assume her disguised signal is Vectorwave's since the mech is the only Decepticon that commands cassette troops.

"Wow that's a pretty good plan, and these nanites are guaranteed to work right?" Calliester commented.

Peach formed a nervous smile on her face before answering "Actually you're the first one to test them out. But I'm sure it'll be fine, Keiracer has made technology in the past that worked and her track record is definitely better than Wheelegad's."

Upon hearing this, the red femme groaned as she slapped her servo against the crest of her helm. Seeing she had no other choice, she gathered up her nerves and sent out the command signal to Laserduck. Her gold optics narrowed and she slightly bit her lip when she saw the robotic duck swerve sharply as he charged up his blasters; she feared that the Decepticon was able to easily piece together that her signal was a fake. But then much to her surprise, Laserduck deactivated his blasters and dived down toward her, revealing that he truly believed her to be Vectorwave thanks to the nanites.

Calliester acted fast the moment the robotic duck reached her and saw that she wasn't Vectorwave by quickly setting her blaster on stun and shooting him, leaving him to plop to the ground in temporary stasis. She carefully picked up Laserduck and pressed a button on his back, prompting a panel to slide open and reveal his circuitry along with his camera feed.

"Alright let's do this before he wakes back up." Calliester stated as she summoned a small black wire from her gauntlet and plugged it into Laserduck's camera feed.

Later that day, Bowsertron paced with his servos firmly clasped behind his back, growing annoyed from waiting for Vectorwave and Thundernights to complete the repairs on the Dinobots and fix the problem that allowed Yoshilock to temporarily break out of his control in the first place. He wanted to have them immediately dispatched once again to hopefully defeat Mario Prime for good. He was interrupted from his thoughts when the sounds of peds clanking against the metal floor reached his audio receptors. He turned around to see Jetdark entering the command room before propping himself against the wall with his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"Well seeing while we're watching for the Dinobots to be repaired, I thought I might as well find out what has been happening on Cybertron during all the time I've been stuck on this planet. You know so I could be up to speed with everyone else here." the orange mech said.

"Well Peach-One and her troop has been holding the last bit of territory we require to have complete take over of Cybertron. Ganonwave has told me how no matter how many troops he sends to attack their base, the Autobots continue to hold strong. But we did gain some success, one orn I was approached by a bounter hunter; he was a neutral but he gladly helped the Decepticons for the right price." Bowsertron explained.

Jetdark's red optics glanced toward the ground, doing his best to hide any expression to show his questioning of the Decepticons relying on a Bounty Hunter that allied himself with no one. He had heard of one femme that left Cybertron and became a Bounty Hunter as well but he recalled that she still allied herself with the Autobots and her targets are only Decepticons that managed to raise quite the price tag on themselves.

Temporarily pushing these thoughts aside, Jetdark asked "So what did this Bounty Hunter managed to do?"

"He wanted something that was apparently in the possession of the Autobots. So I had an assault ordered upon Cyber-Ninja Corps." the gray mech explained.

Upon hearing this, the orange mech's chassis instantly stiffened and without thinking he blurted out "That wasn't part of the military sections of the Autobots. The Cyber-Ninja Corps was full of Cybertronians that weren't cut out for battle and were instead trained in the mind and martial arts by Lucariotron and despite being an Autobot, he even welcomed Neutrals and aided injured soldiers, no matter what side they were on. Are you telling me you attacked a subgroup that had little to no chance fighting back because most of the Cybertronians were injured or had their weapons stripped away for training?"

Bowsertron narrowed his optics, slightly angry that the mech was questioning his choices before answering "While the Bounty Hunter didn't get what he did, there still was victory in the attack. Many Autobots that were still recovering were slain and they lost much of their strategies with the death of many of their tacticians. Finally to top it off, Lucariotron himself end up slain, destroying that sub-group of the Autobots and giving a devastating blow to Mario Prime's forces since they no longer had anyone to train the Cybertronians that weren't fit for battle."

Jetdark's vent rapidly cycled in air as he clenched with servos. It enraged him that the leader he thought was only doing the best for Cybertron managed to wipe out many innocent Cybertronians that weren't able to fight back just so he could gain an advantage in the war. The thought of Decepticons cutting down defenseless Autbots and even attacking the Neutrals who didn't even want a part in the war in the first made him so angry that he almost unconsciously changed his servos into his flamethrowers.

But before anyone could say anything else, Vectorwave entered the room, announcing how the Dinobots were repaired once again and Yoshilock showed no signs of resisting any commands given to him.

"Alright now that's done, we'll send them out again and..." Bowsetron started to say but was interrupted when Laserduck flew into the room and flew into Vectorwave's chest.

The blue mech raised an optic ridge in confusion upon seeing the footage before commenting "Uh Lord Bowsertron, you may want to see this."

He plugged the wire connected to his gauntlet into his computer and with in a few seconds, on the screen appeared footage of Mario in the quarry, issuing his challenge to Bowsertron to have the Dinobots come to the quarry for battle.  
Jetdark silently hummed as he shuttered his optics in thought; he found it interesting that supposedly Laserduck filmed the footage without even shooting at Prime. The realization hit him in a few seconds when it dawned on him that Laserduck had calmly took the footage without attacking because some one had controlled him to do so, meaning that Mario wasn't alone in the quarry like he led on to believe.

He was about to open his mouth to point this out but he stopped himself and remained silent, believing there should be no need to warn his leader after the discovery of the drastic measures he had taken in attempt to win the war.

Bowsertron stared at the footage before commenting "I think the blast from my fusion canon fried his logic circuits because he cannot honestly be this stupid. But I won't pass up the opportunity."

The gray mech turned to the other two Decepticons and commanded that they send the Dinobots to the quarry but to be on the safe side, they will all be accompanying them in case it turn out to be a trap.  
Both Vectorwave and Jetdark nodded their helms before leaving the room.

Back at the quarry, Mario's vents cycled air in and out gently as he glanced back at his troop remaining rooted in their hiding places. He knew it wouldn't be long till the Decepticons and the Dinobots would arrive. He only hoped that Bowsetron didn't question why Laserduck had filmed his message without attacking. He was thankful that while the robotic duck was unconscious, Callister was able to connect her wire to his processor and give him the command to film the message and return to Vectorwave. He was awakened from his thoughts when he heard the sound of jets fill the air.

The Prime tilted his helm upward to see none other than the Deceptiocns flying toward him at top speeds. He narrowed his optics with a stern expression on his face as he watched Bowsetron land on the ground with Vectorwave while the others changed out of their jet forms.

Jetpit's spark nearly stopped pulsing when he sensed the familiar presence once more. He carefully peeked over the rock he was nearly behind and gasped when he saw his twin. Not wanting to blow their cover the blue and white mech quickly closed off his end of the bond to hide his presence, flinching when he saw this action prompted Jetdark's helm to whip in his direction. He bit his lip as he ducked down lower behind the rock he hid behind but still managed to keep himself positioned where he still had a visual. Finally much to his relief, he saw his twin shrug his shoulders before turning his helm away.

"So I see you received my message." Mario finally spoke up, breaking the tension and silence that surrounded them, "Where are the Dinobots?"

"Give them a few nanokliks, they might be powerful but they're kind of slow." Thundernights grumbled with a sigh.

Sure enough within a few seconds Yoshilock, Pledge, and Klag had finally arrived. Yoshilock snarled as his optics glowed brightly when he saw the mech that had saved him before but the chip implanted in his processor kept any of his thoughts from breaking through thanks to the improvements that Vectorwave had placed on it.

"Seeing as you're going to lose this battle, care to share any last words, Prime?" Bowsertron said as he gestured out his servo with a dark grin.

"Just this..." Mario started taking a few seconds to pause before shouting "Dinobots attack!"

The gray mech was confused by this until out from one of the rocks leapt Swoopdo and Snarldile. He snarled in angry before ordering the rest of his troop to attack as he readied his fusion cannon, intending to blast Mario. But much to his anger, Peach and the rest of the troop revealed themselves and began firing at the Decepticons.  
Thinking fast, Thundernights and Skyreala activated the thrusters on their peds lifting up in the air and shooting at the Autobots with the blasters attached to their gauntlets.  
Wartscream managed to barely dodge the incoming fire and dove for cover behind a nearby boulder and began firing his null rays. But as he did this, he noticed that Yoshilock and his Dinobots hadn't moved yet due to not being given an order yet.

"What are you waiting for you idiots? Attack them!" the red and gray mech shouted before quickly ducking to dodge a blast that barely missed his helm.

The green dinosaur mech let out an angry roar before he and his companions transformed into their dino forms and charged toward the Autobots.

"Snarldile, you take on Pledge and Klag, I'll deal with Yoshilock!" Swoopdo shouted before quickly jumping up and transforming into pterodactyl form.

Snarldile was about to the object to the idea of a two on one battle, but quickly changed his mind when he saw the two Dinobots charging toward him at top speeds. Acting quickly he changed into his Stegasaurus form and swung his spiked tail, knocking Klag to the side. Turning his attention to the robotic Apatosaurus, he immediately noticed how the inside of her mouth was glowing red. He managed to barely run out of the way just in time as Pledge blasted a stream of fire from her mouth. Snarldile tilted his head in curiousity, wondering if he had fire breath just like the dinosaur femme.

Deciding to test out the theory, he sorted through his system protocols like he had when he first transformed and sure enough, much to his shock and happiness, a stream of fire blasted forth from his mouth. The fire hit Pledge's long neck, prompting her to roar in pain before swiping her tail. Due to not being fast thanks to his form, Snarldile got knocked onto his back with a slam. He grunted as he changed back into his bipedal form unfortunately to have Klag slam into him.

"Woah, Klag, woah!" Snarldile shouted as the Dinobot continued charging with the mech still slung over on his head.

Swoopdo quickly performed a barrel roll to the right, managed to dodge out of the way of Yoshilock's fire. She circled around the robotic t-rex blasting her own streams of fire while trying to avoid being hit herself. Much to her frustration the fire barely did any damage to him, prompting her to try a more riskier move. Without any second thoughts she dived down at Yoshilock and quickly changed into her bipedal form and summoned her weapon which was a fiery chain mace. She slammed it against Yoshilock's head, prompting him to crash to the ground.

Yoshilock snarled as he changed back into his bipedal form and summoned his fiery sword, ready to fight. Without a word the two Dinobots clashed their weapons together.

Jetpit activated the thrusters on his back and took to the sky, changing his servos into his jet turbines and sending a cyclone straight for the Thundernights and Skyreala. He couldn't prevent himself from bursting into laughter when he saw the two shout in surprise before they were tossed around by the cyclone and crashed to the ground. Unfortunately his laughter was cut off when from the corner of his optic he managed to spot fire blasting toward him. He jerked his chassis to the left, barely dodging the fire and turning to see Jetdark with his flamethrowers charged up.

"You know I don't want to fight you." the blue mech stated in a stern tone.

"Yeah well that's too bad, you should had picked the side that didn't side themselves with the council." Jetdark replied.

"Jetty, when are you going to learn that we didn't side with the council either." Jetpit stated with a smirk.

The orange mech snarled upon hearing the nickname his twin also liked to refer him by before they both joined the war. Without warning he blasted his fire at his twin, while his mind wasn't sure who's side he wanted to be on, for the moment he made it his goal to defeat his twin in battle.

Vectowave narrowed his eyes when he saw Calliester charging toward him with her blaster charged up and ready to fire. He quickly summoned his cassette troops from battle before bringing upon this. But when he did this, he immediately noticed how Calliester's formed a stunned and shocked expression on her face before she quickly shook her helm and started firing at him. He didn't understand this until the memory hit him with in an instant, prompting him to recall the image of himself hunkered down behind the rubble of a collapsed building while Marible who was covered with many tears and bullets wounds fired at her opponents but instead of the Decepticon symbol engrained on her torso, it was the Autobot symbol.

 _"That Autobot must have been the cousin she mentioned about during that battle."_ he thought to himself.

His thoughts were confirmed when he dodged another blast only for Calliester to demand "What did you do to her? There's no way my cousin would side herself with a Decepticon of all things!"

Marible paused for a few brief seconds when she heard the word cousin but quickly brushed it off as she changed her servos into pile drivers and began smashing them against the ground.

"Let's see you handle this Autobot!" the purple femme taunted as the large crack formed in the ground.

Calliester clenched her teeth as she jumped to the side, only to find struggling to keep her balance due to the shaking from the pile drivers. Fortunately she was knocked away from the crack when Huntage tackled her to the ground. Wanting to quickly get back up, Callister changed one of her servos into a large speaker and blasted soundwaves at the robotic dog, knocking him off of her.  
Vectorwave noted how the femme shared abilities similar to him, now realizing that's how they managed to get Laserduck to return with the footage of Mario Prime. Deciding to follow the same example, the blue mech changed his servo in a speaker and blasted soundwaves at his opponent. Much to his frustration Callister noticed this and blasted her own soundwaves, causing the two waves to clash.

Snarldile dug his peds harshly in the ground, forcing Klag to slow down as he kept a firm grip on his horns. He narrowed his gold optics as he jerked harshly to the side, managing to successfully flip the robotic Triceratops onto his back. He grinned in victory but it was short lived when from the corner of his optics he managed to spot a fiery axe swinging toward him. He ducked down, barely managing to dodge the attack before seeing none other than Pledge in her bipedal form as she constantly swung the axe over her head.

He quickly summoned his lance from subspace and engulfed it in flames before clashing it against Pledge's axe.

"I know this is our friends and all but battling them like this is actually pretty fun!" Snardile shouted as he swung his lance once more, managing to successfully smash it against the femme's helm.

"Less talk and more fighting!" Swoopdo shouted as she once again clashed her weapon against Yoshilock's.

The Dinobot femme's engine revved as she tried with all her might to defeat her team's leader. She knew it would be hard with how much battle experience he had compared to her but she refused to give up. Determined to win she smashed her mace against Yoshilock's helm, earning a primal roar of rage from the mech as energon leaked from the newly created tears on his face. Swoopdo tried to attack again but unfortunately Yoshilock had simply knocked away her weapon with his arm and grabbed her by the neck. The femme cried out as she felt her neck was being crushed, causing her yell to be filled with static and warning messages fill her vision. If Yoshilock kept crushing her neck it would sever the main energon tube located there and result in her death.

The Dinobot mech snarled as he crushed hard, noticing how the femme's optics began flickering as she tried to break free. He was about to finish the job until he froze when the memory log of the two figures returned to him once more. He roared in pain as his processor was immediately filled with pain as it struggled to pull up the image clearly. He shuttered his optics, growing angry at the pain that tormented every single time he tried to think. With much struggle he finally managed to pull up the clear image, prompting his optics to snap wide open.

He stared at the femme struggling in his grasp and with much strain he finally managed to say "Sw... Sw... Swoop... Swoopdo."

Swoopdo gasped when she heard her name as she activated her optics, revealed to see Yoshilock's familiar blue optics.

"He... Her... Ha... Help me." he struggled once more before he clenched his denta together and his optics started flickering between red and blue.

The Dinobot femme nodded her helm and without a word she summoned a blaster and fired it directly in front of the mech's face. She yelped she was dropped upon Yoshilock crashing upon the ground unconscious, being temporarily placed in stasis.  
Bowsertron noticed this before quickly managing to spot Snarldile defeat Pledge as well, leaving the three Dinobot's in stasis lock. He snarled in rage before commanding the Decepticons to retreat, knowing that if they continued to fight it would result in him loosing some of his troops.

"Ugh, of course we're retreating again, typical." Wartscream grumbled before transforming into his jet form, followed by Thundernights and Skyreala.

Jetdark was about to take off until Jetpit yelled "Jetdark, please don't go with them again! I swear to you that Bowsertron's cause isn't a noble as he leads you to believe!"

The blue mech glanced back at his twin to see him pleading, but much to his twin's sadness, he took off without another word. While he believed that the Decepticon Leader had fallen into the very corruption he sought to defeat in the first place, he didn't want to join the Autobots until he knew for certain that it was the right choice. He sensed his brother reach out to him through the Spilt Sparkbond they shared, sensing his sadness and pleading for him to join once more. But with a sigh he closed off his end of the bond, leaving him alone with his own thoughts.

Calliester sighed in sadness as she watched her cousin flee with Vectorwave; she couldn't understand why the femme had allied herself with her kidnappers and why her cousin didn't even so much as give her acknowledgement, almost as if she didn't recognize her.

 _"I don't know what he did to you Calliester, but I will find out."_ she thought to herself.

Quite much time had passed since the battle at the quarry, Swoopdo sighed as she nervously paced outside of the Ark's Medbay while Snarldile leaned against the wall. Waiting for Wheeljack to give them a status update on their companions, hoping that they managed to reverse what Ganonwave had done to them. Within a few seconds the door finally slid open to reveal Wheelegad.

"Well I figured out what the problem was." the white mech started, "Apparently Yoshilock, Pledge, and Klag had chips placed in their processors that suppressed their thoughts and locked away their memory logs in order to make them obedient. Fortunately thanks to Yoshilock's stronger processor, he was able to fight more against the control compared to Klag and Pledge. But fortunately I was able to remove the chips and after they recover they both should be fine."

Swoopdo sighed in relief before asking "Is any of them conscious?"

"Well Yoshilock is, so I guess you can go see him." Wheelegad replied.

The two Dinobots nodded before entering the Medbay, seeing Ratchet perform the last bit of repairs on Yoshilock while the mech kept grumbling and insisting that he was fine.

"Good to see you recovering, Yoshilock." Swoopdo commented, prompting the Dinobot to direct his attention toward her.

"Swoopdo and Snarldile. I'm glad to see you both well since I know my sacrifice wasn't in vain. Anyways thanks for helping me and the rest of the team, it ticks me off that we were treated like mindless puppets by that Ridleycron Spawn Ganonwave."

"Yeah and once you've recovered, we'll be moving toward our new base. Both Snarldile and I agreed that going back to Cybertron is too risky at the moment so for now we're going to stay on Earth. To help make sure that the Decepticons don't find our location, Espiowl managed to locate an island sixty-seven kliks from here and thanks to Wheelagad's reverse-engineering the Spacebridge, they managed to create a new device called a Groundbridge, so whenever they require our assistance, we can be transported to them and without the humans even noticing us since apparently our forms will not blend in." the femme explained.

Yoshilock was stunned at what he heard, especially at the fact two of his teammates managed to create an entire game plan without him. Unable to think of anything to say, he only stared at the two Dinobots in shock.

Back with Mario, he sighed as he watched Peach's troop bid farewell before entering the Spacebridge and returning to Cybertron. As much as he wanted Peach to stay, he knew she wanted to stay true to her promise and fight against the Decepticon forces back on Cybertron in order to insure that the last bit of the planet would not fall into their control. He glanced over at the pink femme, watching her stare sadly at Ironlink and Zeldia as the couple bid their farewells. He knew her spark ached at the thought of them not being together but he didn't want to risk her life in case he was killed.

Without a word he walked over to her and gently placed one of his servos on her shoulder, facing her toward him before using the other to tilt up her chin.

"Be careful, Peach. Should anything happen, just contact my comm line and I'll be back on Cybertron to accompany you in battle before returning back to Earth." he insured.

Peach couldn't help but smile before she cupped the sides of the Prime's helm and tilted it downward to share a short a sweet kiss, knowing it would be a while before the two saw each other again. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before she pulled away and let her servos linger on the mech's helm for a few seconds. Without another word she lowered her servos and began heading to the Spacebridge. Before she entered the light, she glanced over at Jetpit and Calliester, both who decided to stay on Earth with the discovery of what had happened to their relatives. She gave them a small nod, earning one as well from the both of them. With that done, Peach took in a deep sigh before stepping into the Spacebridge's light and being transported back to Cybertron, separating her from Mario once more.


	20. Experiment

Chapter 20

Ganonwave silently looked over scan results as he carefully examined the energon he had obtained after Peach-One got injured. Over the few weeks, ever since he received news from Bowsertron that they had lost the Dinobots and they were now allied with the Autobots once more, out of outrage he decided to move onto his next experiment. The silence filling the air was demolished by the sound of loud beeping emitting from the pod that he had placed the energon in along with the sample. His gold optics glanced over at the at the results screen; a dark and satisfied grin formed on his face when he saw what had happened to the energon. Without a word he activated his comm and contacted Slipenelope.

"Slipenelope, I'm going to need you do to another raid on the Autobot base." he stated in a stern tone.

"Ugh, another one? Ganonwave, our supplies are low and sending our troops on constant raids is wasteful. Can't you for once be more tactful when it comes to stealing energon from the Autobots?" the femme replied with a groan.

She grew confused when she heard the mech chuckle before he replied "Oh this isn't to obtain energon, I just need you to draw out Peach-One and when you do, I need you to capture her. I require her assistance for my newest experiment."

Slipenelope remained silent for a few moments before answering "Alright, I'll try but I'm going to go about this carefully since you thought it was a brilliant idea to send our only medic to Earth to aid Bowsertron."

Back at the Decepticon base on Earth, Wartscream grumbled in frustration when he and the other Decepticons were greeted with the sight of mech designed to look like a white lombax. Just seeing the sight of his red armor reminded him of how much he despised the mech almost as much as he despised both Jetdark and Bowsertron.  
The red mech's brown and yellow optics glanced around the room, seeing how he was greeted with expressions of mostly annoyance from his fellow Decepticons, something he had grown use to back on Cybertron since that was the main reason why Ganonwave ordered him to take the Spacebridge to Earth.

Deciding to finally speak up, Skyreala finally commented "So what patient got fed up with you this time, Knockster?"

Knockster sighed, both at the fact the silence was finally broken and the fact that Skyreala who tolerated him the most was the one who spoke up.

He mindlessly twirled around his large brown wrench in his black servos as he answered "That would be Roolwing. He kept insisting that his T-Cog was still functioning fine even though my scans informed me that it had glitched his weapon systems. Apparently he got annoyed and ended up shooting a stray missile that managed to hit and blow up Ganonwave while he was on his way back to his lab. So now I'm here."

Thundernights huffed as she rolled her optics and commented in a bitter tone "Why am I not surprised?"

Knockster spun toward the blue femme and said with a small smirk "Let me guess, you're still bitter about that time you lost your entire leg and I told you that you more and less deserved it for being such a softie. Honestly I'm surprised you hadn't got offlined yet."

Skyreala burst into laughter when he saw the blue femme narrow her optics with a snarl before storming out of the room. His laughter continued until he heard a loud cough coming from Bowsertron with his arms firmly crossed. Immediately the black and purple mech quieted down his laughter and straightened out his posture, allowing his leader to speak.

"Well no matter the reason, I am very glad that Ganonwave sent you here." Bowsertron said as he approached the red mech, "We had been able to get by just fine with Vectorwave's and Thundernight's help but those two aren't medics and don't have all medical procedures in their processors. You on the other hand do and with you the time it normally takes for one of us to be repaired should be sped up now, allowing for us to get on the battlefield faster and increase our chances of defeating Prime and his Autobots."

Knockster tapped his digits on the side of his helm, taking in all the information he was given before responding "True, but do take note that more severe damage would take longer to repair and I will require a large share of the energon you've obtained for emergency procedures."

The gray mech remained silent before finally agreeing to the terms. With everything set, he asked the medic to look over Jetdark to make sure his systems were fully functioning since no one knows how being trapped on Earth for so long affected him.  
Knockster nodded his helm in understanding and took Jetdark to the makeshift Medbay that Vectorwave and Thundernights had been using for repairs. Once there he activated a scanner on his gauntlet and hovered it over the orange mech's chassis.

"Hmm, according to my scans, some of your gears and armor need to be adjusted. Some how your t-cog forced your chassis to change shape while you were locked in stasis mode in vehicle form." Knockster noted, "You're lucky nothing locked up."

"Yeah that would be the humans' doing. While I was still in stasis they discovered my scans, I can't say when since I don't exactly know. I eventually reawakened at some point and witnessed them using me multiple times to pose as enemy jets to sneak behind the opponent's boundaries. The form you see now was the last jet's appearance they had me take on before I got stuck in some museum." Jetdark explained, "It was a little painful since I was always stuck in vehicle form, but fortunately I managed."

Knockster raised an optic ridge at this discovery; due to the fact communications between Ganonwave and Bowsertron are very limited, he had no idea that Jetdark was used in a war since the orange mech only revealed that information to Bowsertron and the Decepticon leader deemed it as an unnecessary detail. All he and the rest of the Decepticons back on Cybertron knew was after seeing Wartscream return alone from the scout mission with no explanation as to what happened to him, they wrote off Jetdark as missing in action, whether it be from fleeing the war and Cybertron all together or just simply offlining from the lack of energon.

"So was the war anything like ours?" Knockster asked out of curiousity as he started removing the armor from Jetdark's arms to adjust the gears.

The orange mech shrugged his shoulders only to earn a light whack from the medic for moving before answering "In a way yeah. I can't really remember what the war was about or why the humans were fighting in the first place. All I know is that it was still devastating for both sides, much like our war. Only thing is the humans were fortunate enough not to have their war last as long as ours."

"Well I suppose things don't really change no matter where you are." the red mech replied, his voice muffled by him holding the handle of the welding gun in his mouth while his free servos dug around through his medical supplies for another tool, "By the way, while I'm working on you, since you've been on this planet longer, is there any fast vehicles I can scan, ground ones that is?"

"Why do you always insist on a ground vehicle? I would think you would be a jet like most Decepticons." Jetdark asked.

Knockster let out a small snort before he took the welding gun out of his mouth after having finally found the extra tool and answering "And be stuck in the same sky as ol' Screamer? No thanks, I prefer to be far away from his wretched shrieking."

Meanwhile Espiowl's vents gently cycled as sat perched on a tree branch with his optics shuttered in focus. Ness sat on the ground, staring up at the black mech in interest and curiosity. He knew that Espiowl was training in a technique known as processor-over-matter and while he had many questions concerning the technique, he knew better to ask questions since Espiowl asked him not to make a single sound before he entered his meditative state. Though unfortunately for the mech, a loud smash prompted him to fall out of the tree with a surprised yelp. He immediately sat up with a groan and glanced over at Ness to see him pointing downward.

He turned his helm only to groan when he saw the smash was caused by Klag and Snarldile working on their strength in their dino forms with the robotic Triceratops bashing his head against the rock wall while the robotic Stegasaurus smashed boulders with his spiked tail.

"I thought that Dinobot Island would be the best place to train since the Ark is too noisy, especially with the twins and Jetpit and I know I can't train at your house otherwise I would blow my cover." Espiowl stated as he rubbed his digits against the crest of his helm.

"So why do you want to master the processor-over-matter technique? Not to seem rude by asking but I am curious." Ness stated.

The black mech's gold optics glanced down at the boy to see he truly did want to know as he stared up at him, eagerly awaiting an answer. He didn't say a word as he tilted his helm upward, staring up at the bright sky. Seeing no harm in telling Ness part of his past due to the close bond he had formed with him and the fact even Mario had willingly shared part of his past with the young boy; his vents cycled in air before he began to explain how he came to be one of Lucariotron's students.

_A younger Espiowl snarled and grunted in rage as he was slung over on the shoulder of a red mech with a large canon extended from his chest. He jerked around his chassis, trying to desperately get free but grew more annoyed that his escape wasn't only prevented by the mech's firm grip but also by the cuffs that firmly held his black gauntlets together. He was so busy trying to escape that he failed to see that the mech had brought him to a Cybertronian dojo. Without warning Espiowl found himself tossed the ground harshly before his weapons and mods were stripped away from his chassis, leaving him defenseless._

_"Got a new one for ya. He's basically a recruit that refused to follow orders." the red mech stated as he pulled the black mech up where he rested on his knee-joints._

_Espiowl didn't bother holding back the angry growl that emitted from his voice box before commenting "Like I want any part of this scrap excuse of a war. The council is forcing us neutrals to fight when we don't want any part of it. These orns you're either a Decepticon or an Autobot and if you ask me, I don't care for either side, it's just a petty power squabble!"_

_The red mech was about to yell at him until a voice spoke up "That'll be enough, Bomberpath. I'll take it from here."_

_Bomberpath rolled his black optics before giving a light whack against Espiowl's helm, earning a small snarl from the mech before leaving the room.  
Within a few seconds, Espiowl found himself greeted by the sight of a mech designed to look like an anthromorphic black and blue dog with black, gold, and white armor. The black mech glared at mech across him, only to immediately to lose some of his nerve when his spark nearly stopped upon being stared down with stern yet slightly cold glare from the mech's red optics._

_"I sense a strong spark in you but I see you don't quite have the proper training. Come, we'll discuss as you get acquainted with the dojo." the black and white mech said as he extended out his white servo while the other unlocked the cuffs._

_Espiowl immediately rubbed his wrist as he stared at the white servo still extended out to him. Part of him wanted to turn away the offer since he knew that he was still being forced to become an Autobot thanks to the council. At first he thought about bolting and making an attempt at an escape but he scrapped that idea when he remembered that Bomberpath had stripped him of all his weapons and mods. With a sigh of surrender Espiowl accepted the extended servo and allowed the mech to help him stand up. Once that was done he silently followed the mech as he began to lead him through the dojo._

_"While here you will address me as Master Lucariotron. Here at the dojo Autobots that aren't quite battle material are instead taught statistics and trained to become tacticians. But I have a feeling that you are battle material and simply refuse to fight." the black and white mech stated._

_Espiowl clenched his servos slightly as he responded in a bitter tone "Of course I'm battle material and you are correct that I simply refuse to fight. All of my friends joined Bowsertron since they agreed that the council needs to be taken out of power but I can easily see how this war has corrupted the Decepticon Leader and I refuse to join the Autobots since they're nothing but mindless puppets for the council. Like I said, this war is nothing but a petty power struggle."_

_Lucariotron glanced back at him with an optic ridge raised in interest._

_He remained silent for a few moments before finally saying "Allow me to show you something."_

_Without another word, he led the black mech to a large room. Once inside Espiowl's mouth dropped open and his optics widened in shock. Much to his shock he saw the room was filled with many Cybertronians that consisted of different factions. At first he thought his optics were malfunctioning since he believed it impossible for Neutrals, Autobots, and Decepticons to all be in the same room peacefully, but when he shuttered his optics a few times, he saw that wasn't the case._

_Noticing his confusion, Lucariotron explained "I extend my help out to Cybertronians that are seeking refuge or even suffered major injuries on the battlefield and came crawling to my dojo, seeking medical aid. The symbol on their chest does not matter to me because I know what does matter is what I can sense dwelling in their sparks. Like the Decepticons, many of the Autobots aren't very keen of the corrupted council, but they continue to fight the Decepticons for one reason, to do what they think what's best for Cybertron. The only ones that see this war as a way to silence an opposing force is the council, as for everyone else, those who willingly fight only do so to fight for what they believe is right."_

_Espiowl remained silent as he tilted his helm downward to the ground, unsure what to think. He had no idea that there were Autobots that went against the council when he thought they were Cybertronians that willingly gave up their free will._

_"You know I can train you, I sense much strength in your spark but with some discipline you can hone that strength. If you're willing I can take you under my wing and teach you everything I know." the black and white mech said, awakening him from his thoughts._

_Espiowl shook his helm and rolled his optics as he replied "I seriously doubt there's anything you can teach me. I'm already well knowledgeable when it comes to combat."_

_But much to the mech's confusion, instead of replying Lucariotron held his servo in front of his face with his index and middle digits index extended as he shuttered his optics and began humming. He was so focused on the mech's strange actions that he failed to notice that the shelf behind him glowed blue and flew off the wall. By the time the sound of the shelf flying toward him reached his audio receptors, the shelf already has smashed into him, knocking his chassis to the ground with a loud yelp._

_"What was that just now?" Espiowl shouted angrily as he shoved the shelf off him._

_Lucariotron chuckled as he answered "That was the mind-over-processor technique. I would tell you how to perform it but that would require you accepting the offer of becoming my student."_

_The black mech thought about the offer as he shoved the shelf off of him. He could tell that Lucariotron did have much to teach him unlike he had thought and after seeing how the mech was kind to not only his fellow Autobots but Neutrals and Decepticons as well. It made him curious of what other techniques he could tech him and how he could use that knowledge to help end the war from the side of the conflict he was forced to join. With his mind set, Espiowl nodded his helm in agreement, becoming Lucariotron's student._

"I trained many vorns under Master Lucariotron. But unfortunately I never got to finish my training." Espiowl finished with a sigh.

"Why's that? Did Lucariotron change his mind about training you or did the council force you back onto the battlefield?" Ness asked.

"No it was nothing like that." the mech replied, frowning as he recalled the memory before continuing, "I had trouble with the technique, I couldn't master it. So Lucariotron sent me on a trip to do a little spark searching. But when I returned, the dojo was destroyed and all the Cybertronians that Lucariotron had taken in were dead along with Lucariotron himself. After learning that the dojo was attacked on the orders of Bowsertron, I had chose to side with the Autobots willingly, not only to end this war but so that I can honor the memory of my master by defeating the one responsible for his death."

The young boy's mouth opened in awe before his brown eyes glanced down at the Dinobots who still continued to train.

He remained silent for a few moments before finally saying "Well if you ever want to, you can train along with me. I have to work on my psychic powers and I think maybe meditation could help, we could both train together."

Espiowl chuckled upon hearing this as he replied "That offer sounds pretty good actually. I might take you up on it."

Back on Cybertron, Peach clenched her denta as she ducked down behind rubble, just in time to avoid a large explosion. She and her Autobot troop were caught off guard by the surprise attack from Slipenelope and the Decepticons. She glanced around the battle field, examining how Zeldia was perched on the top of a crumbling building with a sniper rifle, blasting many different Decepticons soldiers while Mooncreamer was planting bombs to try to create explosions to slow the troops down. Her vents cycled deeply as she watched a femme designed like a white bat with red and orange armor run toward her and take cover beside her behind the rubble.

"Firerouge, what's our status?" she demanded before firing her blaster at the soldiers.

"Well surprisingly none of them have made an attempt for our energon supplies and I called Red Amy's comm for a report and she told me that none of the Decepticons had tried to attack the Medbay to kill the wounded. In all honesty I think they might be searching for someone." Firerouge replied.

Peach was about to ask who until she heard a yelp. She looked over the rubble and her spark nearly froze when she saw the yelp came from Mooncreamer who managed to get shot in the leg while she was planting her bomb and now was at risk at getting killed from the explosion. Knowing what she needed to do, the femme commander shouted for Zeldia to cover her as she made a mad dash for the green femme. Her blue optics narrowed as she fired at the many different Decepticons as she made her way to rescue her fellow Autobot.

Within a few seconds she managed to successfully reach Mooncreamer but unfortunately she noticed the bomb's timer was about to go off. Acting fast Peach quickly grabbed Mooncreamer, thankful for the femme's small size, and tossed her out of the bomb's range. She tried to run out of the range herself but the explosion managed to catch her, resulting in the shockwave to send her flying and crash to the ground just as the building collapsed, cutting her off from the Autobots. Peach groaned as she slowly sat up, the worried screams of Mooncreamer filling her audio receptors.

But the moment she tried to get up, the femme commander felt herself seized by the arms and lifted up in the air. She tried immediately grabbing for her blaster, only to discover she had lost it in the explosion.

"Sorry but you're coming with me, Peach-One. Ganonwave requires your assistance." a feminine voice said in a sly tone.

Peach's optics widened in shock, not only because she recognized her captor's voice as Slipenelope but also at the fact Ganonwave had ordered her capture. She clenched her denta tightly as she jerked around her arms, desperately trying to escape the femme seeker's grasp. Unfortunately her efforts were proven fruitless as she eventually found herself in Ganonwave's lab and harshly dropped upon the ground. The femme commander grunted as she forced herself onto her servos and knee-joints, but when she looked up she found herself greeted with the sight of Ganonwave staring down at her.

"Ah Peach-One, the great femme commander of the Autobots. I have been expecting you since I believe Slipenelope told you how I need you're help with an experiment." the purple mech stated with a dark grin.

"I would never help you, especially after what you did to the Dinobots!" Peach yelled with her servos clenched into two firm fists.

Ganonwave narrowed his gold optics as he quickly grabbed the pink femme by her neck and said "It wasn't a request."

Without warning he tossed Peach into an open pod and pressed a button on his gauntlet, prompting the pod door to seal closed.  
Peach's spark pulsed in fear as she began banging her servos against the glass to try to break it in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately no matter how much she pounded, the glass didn't so much as crack. She glanced at Ganonwave just into to see him empty a strange content into a tray before walking up to the pod with a small clicking sound, indicating he had slid the tray into a slot on the pod.

"By the way, this part will hurt. Then again it's not my problem." he said with a smirk.

Without a word he pushed the button on the pod, prompting the pod to fill up with steam, hiding away Peach's chassis. Silence filled the air for a few seconds before the sound of the femme's screams filled the air.  
Slipenelope flinched with a worried frown when she heard the pained screams and quickly shut off her audio receptors.  
Ganonwave walked over to the results screen, checking the progress of the experiment. A dark and satisfied grin formed on his face when he saw the results before glancing back at the pod, just in time to see Peach's servo slap against the glass as her pained screams continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alister Azimuth - Knock Out  
> Bomberman - Warpath  
> Lucario - Yoketron  
> Rouge the Bat - Firestar


	21. A Deadly Spider

Chapter 21

Mario was in his office, resting his helm in his servos as his vents let out shaky and frantic blasts of air, desperately trying to cool his engine that was burning with both rage and sadness. Not too long ago he a received a communication call from Zeldia, informing him that Peach had been captured by the Decepticons and when they had went to rescue her, they saw no sign of her and weren't able to pick up her signal, leaving them with no choice to believe that the Decepticons had killed her. The Prime was doing his best to keep his stern and brave appearance in front of his fellow Autobots when in truth he was devastated.

Mario grinded his denta as he slammed his servo on his desk, enraged that the War had finally taken away the last thing that connected to him to his old life. His spark pulsed in pain as he recalled Peach's sad smile before she stepped into the spacebridge; his last memory log of her. He was lost in his thoughts until he heard the door to his office slid open. He lifted up his helm to see none other than Cuffer.

"Sir, permission to enter?" the purple and yellow mech asked.

The Prime simply nodded his helm without a word as he did his best to not let his stern expression falter. He opened his mouth to ask the soldier why he had came but quickly changed his mind when he found himself overwhelmed by the emotions from the loss of the one he cared for. In an attempt to bury those emotions, Mario dug his digits tightly into the palm of his servos and closed his mouth.

"I know that look. That is the look of a mech who believes he lost everything." Cuffer said as he sat down.

Mario opened his mouth to object only to surprisingly find himself silenced by the purple mech holding his servo in front of his face.

"I know you're our leader but please let me speak, Mario. I think I should talk about this situation." he said in a stern tone.

The red and blue mech raised an optic ridge, now realizing that the mech had came to his office to talk to him about the loss of Peach. Deciding to let him speak his part, Mario nodded his helm as he leaned back in his chair, slightly unclutching his fists.

Cuffer sighed in relief, as he adjusted himself where he leaned on the desk with his servos firmly clasped together.

His vents cycled deeply before he started "Mario, I've been around a long time and I have experienced death and loss many times, especially since I was still a young mech back during the time of Terra Prime's reign. It was pure devastation until Phoenix successfully overthrew Terra when the Matrix of Leadership deemed him more worthy than the corrupt Prime that held it at the time. But before then, Cybertron was filled with nothing but death with many Cybertronians clashing against Terra's corrupt followers. I lost many friends and families during that time."

Mario frowned when he saw the purple mech's chassis shutter upon recalling the dark memories.

Cuffer took a second to cough to clear his voice box of his static before continuing "But I had learn to continue on. Even now in this war against the Decepticons when I had witness my own children killed in battle, leaving me to look after my two granddaughters, despite the pain I felt, I knew I had to stay strong for them. Even now I do my best to stay strong for the Autobots, even though I know when I go out into battle, I have to fight my granddaughter who has sided with the Decepticons. The point is Mario, Peach wouldn't want you cooped up grieving for her. She would want you to be strong and finish this war, much like you would have wanted her if you were the one that died."

The Prime remained silent as his blue optics glanced downward. As much as it pained him to admit it, he did made it clear to Peach that for the best for Cybertron, they needed to push their personal feelings aside until they defeat the Decepticons. He clenched his denta when he recalled how one of his last few discussions with Peach was about her continuing on should he ever die; a discussion he wished wasn't one of the last things he said to her.

After a few moments of silence, Mario finally reactivated his optics and said "I understand, Cuffer. I thank you for reminding me what I must do and what Peach would have wanted me to do. I will make sure that her death isn't in vain, I will win this war."

"I'm sure Peach would be proud to hear you that." Cuffer commented with a smile, prompting Mario to nod his helm in agreement.

Meanwhile back with the Decepticons, Bowsertron raised his optic ridges in surprise as Ganonwave explained to him that he had sent him another Decepticon to aid him with his battle against the Autobots.

"Unfortunately you will have to meet her at the coordinates I'm giving you right now. Due to her nature, she cannot survive Earth's waters which means she won't be able to access the base you have set up at the bottom of the ocean. So you have to be in contact with her with your comm link. Make sure you get her frequency when you go to meet with her." the purple mech stated as he typed away at the control board.

Within seconds a set a coordinates appeared on screen, wasting no time the gray mech summon a wire connected to his helm and connected it to the computer, downloading the coordinates into his processor. Once that was done, he ended communications with Ganonwave and summoned his troops. Much to his pleasing the Decepticons entered the room in a short time, awaiting his orders.

With both of his black servos firmly clasped behind his back, he commanded "I must go meet a new addition to the troop. I shall be taking Skyreala with me and while I am gone you shall all take orders from Vectorwave."

Wartscream snarled in anger upon hearing this, angry that the Decepticon Leader knew better than have him accompany him or leave him in charge since in either scenario he would just simply take advantage of the opportunity and attempt to take over as leader of the Decepticons as usual. His optics glanced around the room to see surprisingly both Skyreala and Thundernights snickering at his expression.

"Oh so you both found a common ground have you?" the red and gray mech sneered.

Thundernights snickered for a few more moments before answering "Yeah, hating you and seeing you humiliated is the only thing I share in common with him."

Wartscream grumbled as he resisted the urge to blast the two seekers with his null rays, deciding he would wait to get payback on both of them the day he finally succeeds at becoming Leader of the Decepticons.  
Without another word Bowsertron gestured with his servo, indicating for Skyreala to follow him and left the base. Following the coordinates that Ganonwave had given him, it wasn't long till the two Decepticons found themselves at the entrance of a dark cave. The gray mech narrowed his red optics as get made sure his fusion canon was ready to charge. While he knew that the Decepticon Scientist had never given any reason to be consideried traitorous, the Decepticon Leader refused to lower his guard, something he learned from his many battles as a gladiator.

Silently he started making his way into the cave with his fusion cannon armed and ready. His helm turned in many directions as he carefully studied his surroundings, making sure there were no signs of an ambush. All of the sudden, he was startled by Skyreala releasing a loud yell from his voice box. Acting fast he quickly spun around with a snarl, revealing his razor sharp denta as he got ready to fire his fusion cannon at his opponents. But when he did, Bowsertron stopped and charged back down his fusion cannon at what he saw.

"You idiot, those are only the Insecticons! They're on our side!" Bowsertron yelled in anger, prompting Skyreala to yell once more as he slapped his servos over his audio receptor.

"I know, which is why I was yelling in frustration. You know how annoying the one in the middle is?" the black mech snarled back.

Before the two Decepticons were three small mechs that all had black and purple armor with bug like features that composed of a stag beetle, a grasshopper, and a rhinoceros beetle. The Insceticon with the stag beetle features and round chassis snickered at the sight of the angry seeker as he placed his round purple quantlet against his pink faceplate, his blue optics glinting mischievously behind his red visor.

"Ah, Skyreala, poyo! It's great to see you after so many vorns, poyo." the insecticon snickered.

Skyreala growled in anger and shouted "See what I mean, every time Sharpkirby talks, he always ends his sentences with poyo! I don't care if it's on purpose or not, either way it drives me crazy!"

Bowsertron sighed as he rubbed his digits against the crest of his helm, not really caring about the how the Insceticon annoys the seeker. He was awakened from his thoughts when the Insceticon with the rhinoceros beetle features with small black wings and yellow glowing optics behind his white mask stated that they had been sent to escort them to the leader of their troop. Once again the gray mech found himself surprised at the information he received. He remembered back on Cybertron how the only one to give out orders to the Insecticons was Ganonwave so the fact the new addition could control them interested him.

Deciding to shatter the silence that filled the air, he spoke up "Alright, Metashell, lead the way."

Metashell nodded his helm before he and his Insecticon comrades led the two Decepticons deeper into the cave. After a few seconds they finally reached the end and much to Bowsertron's surprise, he saw the cave walls were covered in spider webs. He tapped his clawed digits against his mussel in thought, wondering why the webs were so large since during his time on Earth he knew that the spiders weren't large enough to create such large webs. But he was awakened from his thoughts when he heard a feminine and seductive laugh.

Out from the dark corners of the cave, a femme with purple and black armor came carefully crawling down the web. A sly grin formed on her face when she saw the two stunned mechs, revealing her fanged denta. She carefully traversed the web with her clawed purple servos and black heeled peds along with the four black spider legs that extruded from her back. Once she reached the ground, she used her extra spider legs to push herself upright onto her peds.

"Greetings, Lord Bowsertron, I had been expecting you." she said as she gestured out her clawed servos.

Bowsertron was speechless when he saw the femme before him. He didn't know why but upon examining her red optics, a sense of familiarity washed over him, almost as if he knew the femme before him but with the black and gold helm hiding away most of her face he couldn't tell for sure.

Deciding to push away the thoughts for the moment, the Decepticon Leader quickly shook his helm before replying "Ganonwave has told me that you would supposedly be a good asset for my troop."

The femme chuckled in reply, holding her servo over her mouth before responding "I'll allow you to be the judge of that, but only if you permit a demonstration."

The gray mech firmly crossed his arms over his chestplates before nodding his helm in agreement.  
A dark grin formed on the femme's face as she her red optics immediately glanced over at the Decepticon seeker. Without warning she tackled the mech to the ground and stabbed two of her spider legs into his neck cables prompting electricity to course throughout his chassis as he screamed in pain. After a few seconds she stood up once again and turned toward the shocked gray mech.

"What you just witnessed was my cyber-venom. A small dose causes any Cybertronian to temporarily fall into stasis. Had I injected any more cyber-venom into him then he would have remained in stasis as his systems slowly shut down and finally, the venom extinguishes his spark. But fortunately for you I did not give him that much so he'll survive. But there's another bonus to my venom..." the femme explained.

Within an instant she disappeared in a purple flash and reappeared on the other side of the cave as she finished "When I stab someone with my stingers, I temporarily gain their abilities."

Bowsertron's mouth hung open both out of shock and impressment. His expression remained a few seconds before finally a pleased grin formed on his face.

"Well I see that Ganonwave was indeed truly correct when he said you would be a valuable asset and the fact he even left the Insceticons under you control is even more pleasing."

"Ah yes, these mechs." the femme started with a slight groan, "Since I can't access your base, Ganonwave provided me with a chip to control them with commands in case any prying Autobots want to try to take me out. While I find their abilities useful, they can be incredibly stupid at times."

"Hey, I resent that!" shouted the Insecticon with grasshopper features and was designed to look like a blue penguin.

The femme rolled her red optics with a groan before directing her attention to Bowsertron once more. She gave him her comm frequency for whenever he required her assistance and watched him leave with a still unconscious Skyreala in tow. Once they were gone, the femme sighed as she leaned against the cave wall. She didn't know why but something felt off to her about the whole thing yet she couldn't figure it out. She was awakened from her thoughts when she heard Metashell ask if she was alright.

"Oh I'm fine, just thinking that is all. I think maybe some Autobot hunting will do me so good. Keep watch over the base and should any trouble arise, I'll comm you so keep your communication lines open." she commanded.

Without another word she transformed into a large purple and black spiders with five red eyes and left the cave.

Nightfall had fallen upon the city and many children giggled and laughed as they wore costumes for it was Halloween Night. Luigibee's holoform raised a brow in confusion as he walked aside Bulkmurray's holoform. He found it strange to see many humans dressed up as strange creatures that he didn't know the names of and have their houses decorated with frightening appearances consisting of skeletons, gravestones, spider webs, and dead body parts.

"So what is the point of this again?" Luigibee asked as he quickly moved out of the way of a child dashing by.

Daisy who was dressed up as a princess answered "It's a fun night where you get to be anything you want for one night and get a bunch of candy."

Ness who was dressed up as a pirate and Paula who was dressed up as a black cat both nodded their heads in agreement as they munched away at the candy already in their bags.

"You also said it was for kids, so why are you doing this Daisy?" Bulkmurray asked as he scratched his head.

Daisy huffed as she crossed her arms in anger, careful not to accidental mess up her yellow dress as she responded "Just because that whole upgrade thing ended up ageing my body up to the appearance of a young woman doesn't mean I mentally aged as well. In my mind I'm still a little kid and it's going to stay like that for a while."

Bulkmurray turned toward Luigibee who only simply shrugged his shoulders. Deciding to ignore question for the moment, the group made their way to another house and rang the doorbell. But as they waited Luigibee froze when he heard the sound of hissing. He tilted his head up and his spark nearly stopped pulsing in fear when he saw perched on the roof was a large black and purple spider. Without even thinking, the mech's holoform screamed as he stumbled backwards into a child, causing him to fall through the child and the image get distorted with blue static.  
Daisy gasped upon seeing this and thinking fast she quickly picked up the child and stood in front of the holoform, blocking it off from the child's view.

"Oh hey whoops, I left my candy bag on the ground and you must have tripped on it. Sorry!" the ginger-headed woman lied as she gently nudged the child along.

Once the child was gone, Daisy turned around and glared at the holoform that finally had a stable image once more.

"Luigi, what were you thinking! You could have got our cover blown!" she scolded.

Luigibee's holoform shook in fear as he stuttered "Bi-Bi-Big sp-sp-spi-spi-spider!"

Daisy groaned as she slapped her forehead, believing that what truly spooked the mech was only a simple Halloween decoration. With a frustrated sigh she walked away while shaking her head, wanting to move onto other houses before the night was over.  
Luigibee gulped nervously as he made his holoform stand up once more and look up at the roof once more. Much to his fear, the spider he spotted on the roof was no longer there. With fear and worry filling him, he quickly caught up with the group while his blue eyes darted around in different directions, searching for any signs of the spider.

But unaware to the group, perched on the wall in the dark alleyway was none other than the spider. She chuckled darkly to herself, having witnessed Luigibee's holofrom incident. She narrowed her red eyes in slyness, knowing that the holoform meant that an Autobot was nearby. Making sure she didn't make a sound, she carefully crawled up the wall, back on the rooftops as she began silently following the group with her red eyes glowing in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kirby - Shrapnel  
> Meta Knight - Bombshell  
> King Dedede - Kickback


	22. Halloween Brawl

Chapter 22

The night grew late and children started returning toward their homes for the night and adults started shutting off the lights and blowing out their jack-o-lanterns. Daisy dug through her bag, licking her lips in excitement at all the candy she had received. She glanced over at Ness and Paula, glad to see they were enjoying themselves as well. She frowned slightly when she remembered how she offered Jeff to join them trick or treating since it was finally the first year she was allowed to do so. But much to her disappointment he turned down her offer because he wanted to spend more time with Cliffalcon and Wheelegad to learn more about Cybertron.

Her body stiffened slightly when she heard a small yelp, prompting her to look back to see Luigibee's holoform still shaking in fear and he frantically looked in different directions. The ginger-headed woman sighed and shook her head, trying to figure exactly why the mech was still spooked over what she believed was only a Halloween decoration. She faced forward once more to see the last house finally close up for the night.

Daisy yawned with stretch as she commented "Whelp I guess that's it for the night. We should all be getting back."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement but before they could take a single step, a loud hiss filled the air. Paula gasped as she pointed her finger upward, revealing none other than the large black and purple spider.  
The spider hissed once more as her eyes glowed brightly in the dark, pleased she finally got the attention of her prey. Without warning she quickly jumped off the roof and started quickly crawling toward them.

"Daisy, get Ness and Paula to safety!" Bulkmurray shouted as his and Luigibee's holoforms vanished and their vehicle forms came speeding around the corner.

Daisy didn't even question orders as she quickly grabbed both Ness and Paula by their wrists and dashed off. She quickly made a sharp turn into an alley way and pulled the two children close to her as they huddled in fear.

I can't believe Luigibee actually did see a giant spider. Where did it come from and why was it after us?" Ness asked as he took in deep breaths, his heart still rapidly pounding in fear.

"I have no idea, but I do know what I need to do." the ginger-headed woman replied.

Without a word she closed her eyes and within seconds her white helm materialized over her head in a flash of blue light. She quickly pressed her hand against her audio receptor, activating her comm link. Much to her relief she heard the familiar voice of Mario come from the other end before she quickly explained the situation with the spider.  
Bulkmurray yelled as he swung his wrecking ball at the giant spider, growing angry when he saw it jump out of the way and land on the wall of one of the buildings. His engine revved as he jerked his wrecking ball out of the ground and changed it back into his servos. He knew that if he tried swinging his wrecking ball at the spider again, he would end up damaging the building and possibly hurting the humans inside.

Fortunately the green mech didn't have to worry much longer when without warning Luigibee changed his servos into his stingers and managed to hit the spider, causing it to crash to the ground with a hiss of pain.

"Hey, Bulkmurray, why do you think none of the humans are checking out the commotion?" the yellow mech asked out of curiosity as he zapped his stingers at the spider once more.

Bulkmurray shrugged his shoulders as he answered "I guess they think it might just be Halloween Decorations. Either way we better wrap up this battle fast before we catch the attention of any curious humans."

The spider narrowed her red eyes as she kept jumping in a constant attempt in order to prevent herself from being hit with anymore electricity blasts along with the smashes from Bulkmurray's wrecking ball. She latched onto the wall of another building but upon doing this she noticed how the green mech held back his attack while Luigibee continued attacking. A dark chuckle emitted from her voice box when it dawned on her that he didn't want to risk hurting the humans inside of the building. With a plan formulated, she quickly latched onto another building as she dodged Luigibee's attack, but instead of jumping to another building, she lunged herself at Bulkmurray.

The green mech gasped as he quickly tried to resummons his wrecking ball to protect himself. Unfortunately he was too late; he grunted as his chassis smashed to the ground and when he tried to get up, the spider sunk her fangs into his shoulder, successfully piercing the arm. He screamed in pain as electricity began coursing throughout his chassis and a strange burning sensation began filling his energon lines.  
The spider narrowed her eyes in satisfaction as she watched the light leave the mech's brown optics and he fall into stasis. She planned on keeping her fangs in him long enough so she could inject enough cyber-venom into his systems to start killing him but much to her anger, she was blasted off of him by a blast of lightning.

The spider hissed as she set her sights on Luigibee who's engine was burning revved in anger at the sight of his unconscious friend.  
The yellow mech yelled as he blasted his lightning while charging at the large spider. He was getting ready to blast the spider the moment she jumped out of the way but much to his surprise and shock, the spider shot out her webbing and pinned him against a wall. Luigibee clenched his denta, desperate to free himself of the web that kept him pinned against the wall, but unfortunately he wasn't fast enough because within seconds the spider latched onto the wall and sunk her fangs into her shoulder.

The spider kept her fangs firmly in place as she watched the mech scream in pain from the electricity and cyber-venom before falling into stasis. The moment Luigibee fell into stasis, the spider's eyes widening when the sound of energy charging up filled the air. Without any second thoughts she quickly removed her fangs from the mech and scaled up the building, managed to barely dodge a blast. She reached the top of the building and froze in surprise when on the ground was none other than Mario Prime with his ion blaster still smoking from the previous shot.

Mario optics quickly glanced at Bulkmurray's and Luigibee's unconscious forms; he sighed in relief when his scans indicated that they weren't offlined but merely in stasis. He redirected his attention toward the black and purple spider as it hissed with electricity flaring off its fangs much like Luigibee's stingers. Acting fast the Prime quickly fired at the spider as he fired at her once more and successfully rolled out of the way of the lightning blast. He took cover behind a nearby car and ducked down as he reloaded his ion blaster. His audio receptors could hear the sound of the spider leaping from building to building, trying to quickly make its way toward him.

Once his weapon was successfully reloaded, stood up from his cover and blasted at the spider. But unfortunately he wasn't able to react fast enough when the spider blasted lighting once more and managed to successfully knock the ion blaster from his servo. He shuttered his optics for a few seconds as his free servo clutched his now damaged one before looking up just in time to see the spider getting ready to fire once again. Acting on reflexes alone, Mario managed to changed his undamaged servo into his energy axe and use it as a make shift shield against the lightning blast.

Seeing the Prime was unharmed from her last attack, the spider hissed in rage before jumping off of the building and shooting her webbing and swinging her body at full speeds at the mech.  
Mario tried to attack with his axe but much to his shock, the spider was strangely stronger than him and managed to knock him to the ground. He clenched his denta as his chassis smashed against the ground but the moment he tried to sit up the spider shot more webbing, pinning him to the ground. The Prime immediately began jerking around his arms, trying to at least get his axe free so he could cut away the rest of the webbing. But his struggles immediately stopped the moment the familiar sound of gears shifting and changing reached his audio receptors.

He turned his helm to see in the spider's place was now a femme with black and purple armor.  
The femme's red optics glowed brightly as she let out a small chuckle, allowing the moonlight to glint off of her fanged denta. Her black heeled peds clicked upon the ground as she slowly approached the shocked Prime. The dark grin never left her face as she kneeled down to his level and grabbed ahold of his chin with her clawed servo.

"Ah and here I'm shocked that not only did I manage to snag a couple of stray Autobots but also none other than the Leader of the Autobots himself that Ganonwave told me so much about." she said before chuckling once more and commenting "To think I thought you would be more challenging."

Mario snarled slightly as he jerked his arms, trying to break free from the webbing once again only to find they still were able to firmly hold him against the ground. He kept struggling until from the corner of his optic he managed to spot Daisy peeking her out from her hiding place in a dark alley way. He watched as she pressed her index finger against her lips before tapping it against the blue orb on her chest, silently telling him that she was going to transform. The Prime nodded his helm slightly but not too much since it was still in the grasp of the femme's servo before turning his attention back to the black and purple femme.

"Exactly who are you?" he asked, deciding to buy Daisy time.

"Well it should be obvious if you compare our insignias." she replied as she tapped her digit against his Autobot insignia on his shoulder for a few seconds before tilting her helm up slightly and tapping against the Decepticon insignia engrained on her neck.

Mario raised an optic ridge upon seeing this; he wasn't confused by the femme's insignia since he knew that meant she had aligned herself with the Decepticons. The part that confused him was that he never recalled seeing her before during all the times he battled against the Decepticons.

Seeing that Daisy hadn't arrived yet, he continued to ask "I meant in terms of a name."

"Oh of course you did, after hanging around idiotic Insecticons for a while, I've come to expect idiotic questions. As for the answer to your question..." she started while rolling her optics.

She paused for a moment before leaning in close where her face was only an inch away from the mech's. Her free servo trailed down his chestplates before stopping right above where his spark chamber was located. She narrowed her optics as she pushed, prompting the Prime to hiss in pain slightly when her clawed digits started to puncture his armor, almost as if she was daring to plunge her servo through his chestplates and rip out his spark chamber.

The femme couldn't help but chuckle at this response before finally replying in a bit of a seductive tone "Just call me Shadowarachnia."

She started pushing her servo harder, puncturing his armor more and earning more hisses of pain from the mech. She smirked at seeing in pain but then without warning she yelled as she was knocked off of him with a blast that hit her in the side. She snarled as she propped herself on her servos and peds, using her four spider to help herself up. She narrowed her red optics when she saw standing in front of Mario was a femme with pink and white armor with glowing blue blasters in the palm of her servos and a white battle mask hiding away most of her face.

"Looks like there's a bug that needs to be squashed." Daisy said as she summoned her blue arm blades.

Shadowarachnia snarled as she pushed herself onto her peds and changed her servos into Luigibee's stingers.

"Well another foolish Autobot makes their way into my web. At this rate, I'll have Prime's entire team trapped." she taunted as she charged up her stingers.

The pink and white femme smirked underneath her battle mask before commenting "I wouldn't be so cocky, Spidey."

Upon hearing this, the Decepticon femme snarled as she replied "The name's Shadowarachia you little brat!"

Without warning she blasted lighting from her stingers at the younger femme. Much to her anger the Autobot was able to jump out of the way and activate the jet thrusters on her back, launching herself toward her at top speeds. Shadowarachnia quickly thrust forward her upper spider legs, managing to block Daisy's arm blades, creating some scratches on them. She hissed as forced her spider legs forward, trying desperately to stab them into the femme's chassis to inject her cyber-venom.

Daisy narrowed her optics as a sly smirk formed on her face. Before the Decepticon could even react, the pink and white femme swept her leg underneath her, causing her opponent to crash to the ground. Taking advantage of Shadowarachnia's temporary dizziness, Daisy quickly slapped her servo on her midriff, activating her scan ability. But the moment she scanned her, the Autobot's face froze as she stared in shock.

"Wait, you're a technorganic?!" she exclaimed.

Unfortunately due to her shock at the discovery, Daisy didn't have enough time to dodge Shadowarachnia's spider legs as the managed to successfully stab into her neck. She screamed in pain, the cyber-venom managing to affect both her technology half and her organic half. Within a few seconds she groaned as her arm blades disappeared as she collapsed unconscious on the ground.  
Shadowarachnia grinned as she stood up while holding the femme by her neck. Due to the fact she was infuriated with the femme, she wanted to kill her immediately rather than let her cyber-venom do the work.

The Decepticon summoned Daisy's blue arm blade from her black gauntlet and hovered it over where her spark chamber is located. But before she could even plunge the blade into Daisy's chestplates, the femme felt something sharp slice the side of her midriff. She shrieked in pain, prompting her to drop Daisy from her grasp and turn toward her attacker. Shadowarachnia snarled when she saw Mario who had finally freed himself from her webbing glaring at her with her energon dripping of his axe. She didn't say a word as she summoned Daisy's second arm blade and got into a fighting stance.

Without even warning, the two Cybertronians charged at each other with their weapons clashing. Mario's engine revved as he constantly swung his axe while keeping his distance from the femme's spider legs. As he fought her, he didn't know why but he felt there was something strangely familiar about her fighting style. His mind though couldn't come up with an answer as he quickly rolled out of the way of Shadowarachnia's legs, causing them to stab in the ground. He quickly spun around, seeing the femme was struggling to get her legs free due to how deep she unintentionally forced them into the cement.

Not wasting anytime, the Prime clenched his servo into a firm fist and punched the femme in the torso. He watched she flew through the air for a few seconds before tumbled on the ground, the force of the impact knocking off her black and gold helm as it clanked against the ground. His blue optics burned with determination as he approached her with his axe raised, intending to smash it against her exposed processor and knock her into stasis. But before he could attack, his chassis froze and his spark almost stopped pulsing when Blackarachnia looked up at him.

Even though her yellow metal hair was now short and black lines now trailed down her cheeks with purple spider-like features extruding from her audio receptors and the sides of her jaw, he still managed to recognize the features that remained along with the red optics that were once blue.

"Peach?" he whispered in disbelief.

Shadowarachnia did not reply but instead hissed as she quickly stabbed her spider legs into his neck. Her dark red lips formed into a sneer as she watched the Prime before her get electrocuted as he cried out in pain and he fell into stasis. She didn't know why the mech addressed her as Peach but she intended to insure he didn't get up. She pressed her heeled ped firmly on his chestplates as she changed her servo into his axe. The femme raised it above her head silence, ready to strike. But much to her shock, when she tried to swing down, something stopped her. She pressed her free servo against her processor in confusion as the image of the mech before her with a pink femme she did not recall.

Blackarachnia was confused by the image in her memory logs, especially since her spark began pulsing in pain at the thought of it. After a few seconds, she sighed as she stepped off of Mario and changed her servo back. She walked over to her fallen helm, picking it off the ground and placing it back on. Before she left, she took one last look at the Prime's unconscious form as she rested her servos above where her spark chamber rested, confused about the feelings she was experiencing. With that done she changed back into her spider form and took off.

Seeing the battle was over, Ness and Paula quickly ran out from their hiding places and to their fallen friends.

"Was that really Peach? I thought Mario said that Zeldia told him she was captured and killed. If it was her, why is she now a technorganic spider and why has she allied herself with the Decepticons?" Paula asked with a concerned frown.

Ness sighed as he answered "I don't know but we better get out of here before..."

The young boy was caught off by the sight of one of the house lights coming on. Both children panicked in fear, seeing that one of the homeowners was deciding to finally to investigate the source of the commotion. Seeing they needed to get the Autobots out of sight, Ness activated the wrist communicator Espiowl had given to him and quickly requested for a groundbridge.

"Now we just have to make sure they don't see neither the Autobots or the groundbridge." he stated.

Paula tapped her index finger against her chin; her mind quickly searching through different ideas on how to provide cover. That was when she recalled her first encounter with Ness when they both ended up sharing a psychic link. Knowing what they needed to do, the young girl quickly grabbed Ness' hand and told him to use PK Flash at the same time as her so the psychic link could boost it and they could temporarily blind anyone who looks outside. The two children squeezed their eyes shut in focus as a blue glow began to emit from their hands clasped together while their free hands glowed green.

Using all their might, they prompted the green glow to shoot from their hands and fill the area with a bright green flash, just in time for the groundbridge to appear. Cliffalcon and Jazzden quickly darted forth from the groundbridge opening and hauled their fallen comrades onto their shoulders.

"Geesh, Mario is heavier than he looks." Cliffalcon grunted as he ran back toward the groundbridge.

"At least you ain't carrying Bulkmurray over here. I swear it's like trying to carry two-hundred block of energon, not to mention I'm having to carry Luigibee too." Jazzden commented in reply as he struggled to carry the two mechs to the groundbridge.

Once all the Autobots made it successfully through the groundbridge, Ness and Paula quickly entered it as well, promting the gate to finally disappeared in a flash.  
A man in his pajamas grumbled as he stepped outside while rubbing his eyes, having been temporarily blinded by Ness and Paula's PK flash. He looked all around the neighborhood, seeing nothing but the destroyed roads left over from the fight.

"What the heck caused that? Must have been the Bay house again. Why do they always use explosions for their decorations?" the man grumbled as he walked back in his house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shadow Queen Peach - Blackarachnia


	23. Forest Attack

Chapter 23

Ironlink grumbled to himself as he typed away on the control panel, searching for any signs of Decepticons. Ever since the Halloween attack, the red mech was forced to take up the mantle as leader since Mario and the others attacked were still recovering in the Medbay from the cyber-venom Shadowarachnia injected into them. He was certainly shocked when Ness and Paula explained how the Decepticon femme was none other than Peach who they all thought was killed after being captured. He kept typing away until he heard a loud bang. He grumbled once more as he turned around, not very surprised to see Descole on his back with his head hidden away as he tried to repair on of the ship's faulty circuit boards.

"You know you really shouldn't mess with what you don't know." Ironlink said with a sigh.

Descole slid out from the circuit board, revealing goggles over his eyes and grease smudges on his face as he responded "If I don't try to fix it then how am I possibly suppose to understand your planet's complex technology?"

"You could just sit down with Wheelegad and learn about Cybertron like Jeff is doing." the red mech said before returning back to the control panel.

Descole rolled his eyes as he firmly grabbed ahold of his goggles and rested them atop of his forehead. A part of him found it amusing how Ironlink had been annoyed with his every action ever since Mario assigned him as his Autobot guardian. But the other part of him knew that he had to eventually get on the mech's good side since they would be spending a long time with each other since he decided to aid the Autobots at Thundernights' request. He raised a brow as he put away his tools upon recalling the blue femme; while he completely understood the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons, there was one question that dwelled in his mind.

Deciding to get answers, the brown-headed man ask "So what's going to happen to the Decepticons after you win this war?"

Ironlink immediately stopped moving as he took a moment to pause in thought. In truth neither he nor any of the Cybertronians had considered the aftermath of the war due to how long they have been fighting. He knew that many of the Decepticons would have to face war criminal charges if they were to win. leaving him to wonder if it would be wise to imprison them. While they had sided with the Cybertronian that became corrupted by power, many of them became Deceptions to fight against the treatment of the Corrupted Council.

A few moments before Ironlink sighed as he rubbed the crest of his helm as he answered "To be honest, Descole, I don't know. I guess we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it but for now all that matters is at least defeating Bowsertron."

At that moment the sounds of Mastertran-1's alarm filled the air, prompting Ironlink to quickly direct his attention to the screen. Much to his shock the computer's scan had picked up distress signals sent from the forest ranger tower about large trees mysteriously giving out and collapsing, forcing them to evacuate all civilians for their safety. The red mech narrowed his blue optics as he examined the footage on the screen, seeing large trees crashing in the forest, causing humans to flee in fear while other weren't fortunate enough to escape the trees, resulting in them getting severely injured or even killed instantly.

"Those humans are gonna need help evacuating with the rate those trees are falling, the body count has already reached bad numbers. I'll send Windike and Megahound to investigate, Megahound can find out what's causing the trees to collapse while Windike should be fast enough to make evacuation rounds to help evacuate the humans." Ironlink said before activating his commlink, summoning the two mechs.

"I'm guessing that the trees are the Decepticons doing. It's funny how those guys seem to have no problem having humans spot them while you guys keep trying to remain hidden." Descole commented with his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"That's because Decepticons could care less about human casualties. Mario has made it clear that humans not being aware of us is best for them." the red mech answered with an annoyed sigh.

Back at Shadowarachnia's base, the black femme narrowed her red optics as she kept examining the strange image in her memory logs. She didn't know what triggered it in the first place or why she felt she should know the pink femme in her memories. She was lost in thought until she heard the sound of footsteps. Shadowarachnia hissed as she quickly shot out her webbing successfully pinning the intruder against the wall and jumped down to the ground. But once on the ground, she was surprised when she was greeted with the sight of Wartscream.

"You wretched femme, how dare you attack me when we're both on the same side!" the mech yelled.

"You're one to talk." Shadowarachnia replied as she cut the webs with her talons before placing her servos firmly on her hip plates and asking "Now why did you come in here unannounced anyway, I told Bowsertron if my ever acquired my assistance or wished to speak to me, he is to contact me through my comm."

Wartscream sneered in annoyance as he swiped some of the scrap webbing off of his armor. It disgusted him slightly that he had chosen to turn toward a technorganic, but he did see her as a possible ally. He was stunned the day when Bowsertron brought back Skyreala who was still stuck in stasis lock much to Thundernights' amusement as the Decepticon Leader explained about Shadowarachnia's abilities. He was drawn away from his thoughts when the sound of snapping reached his audio receptors and he was greeted with the sight of the spider femme glaring at him as her upper spider legs began rearing back, ready to strike.

Wartscream snorted as he crossed his arms and answered "Impatient are we? If you must know I came to see exactly where your alliance lay with Bowsertron."

Shadowarachnia narrowed her optics as she leaned up close to the mech and stated "Last I checked, Ganonwave told me that you aren't exactly the loyal little soldier you try to pretend to be. So why would you of all mechs would be concerned about where my loyalties lie?"

"If you were truly loyal you wouldn't have attacked me." the seeker replied in a slight bitter tone, still angry about how the femme had attacked him without warning.

The femme hissed, prompting the mech to jump back in fear slightly before she leaned back with a smug grin and answered "Ah the big bad mech is afraid of a little bitty spider but since you're so desperate and had the manifolds to come here unannounced, I might as well toss you a bone. I don't trust any of the Decepticons, I just don't see myself liking any of you. But none the less I still align myself with Bowsertron since Ganonwave was at least kind enough to help me out when I was injured and had no idea who I was, but he gave me an identity and showed me my powers and I serve Bowsertron as repayment. What's your excuse for joining Mr. I want to backstab my boss and take over?"

"So in other words you wouldn't even dare ally yourself with me." Wartscream commented in a sour tone.

"Got that right, now I would like you to leave now, it's annoying enough to have to be stuck with idiotic Insecticons, the last thing I need is another one. And if you don't leave right now..." Shadowarachnia started but without warning she grabbed ahold of the seeker's wing, digging her clawed digits slightly into the metal as she slammed him against the wall and pointed her spider legs toward his neck cables before continuing, "I'll just simply inject you with my cyber-venom and throw your chassis into the ocean for your comrades to find, now whether I inject enough to slowly offline you or not depends on how much I hate your right now."

The red and gray mech snarled as he tightly clenched his denta together. Without a word he grabbed ahold of the femme's wrist and jerked it away from his wing, ignoring the pain created from talons leaving small tears before storming out of the cave. After his enough with the technorganic, he was fully convinced that once the chance arrived, he wouldn't hesitate to take her out as payback.

Later that day Megahound grunted as the tires of his jeep form ran over a large rock, prompting him to jump up in the air before roughly landing on the ground. He and Windike were speeding through the forest in order to reach the humans that desperately were trying to escape the collapsing trees that continued to mysteriously crash to the ground. The green jeep activated his scans as he managed to swerve out of the way of a large tree trunk.

"Windike, I'm picking up Cybertronian frequencies but none of them match any of the frequencies of Bowsertron or any of his troops." he stated.

"So we're dealing with new opponents. Try to track them down." Windike said before speeding off.

Megahound remained silent as he followed the source of the signals, surrounded by the sounds of revving engines, sirens, humans' screams, and trees collapsing. At that moment his scanner starting beeping, indicating that he had finally located the unknown opponents. Seeing there were no humans around the green mech changed into his bipedal form and summoned his blaster from subspace. His vents gently cycled air as he peeked around the tree trunk and much to his shock he saw large the Insecticons in their insect forms, chewing away at the tree trunks until they collapsed.

Kickdedede gnawed on large pieces of bark before gagging and coughing some of them out of his mouth in disgust.

"Why do we have to eat this stuff, honestly I would rather have tasty energon right now." the robotic grasshopper complained.

"We need all the energy we can get to accomplish Shadowarachnia's wishes and if we take energon then we're bound to gain the unwanted attention of Bowsertron and his troop." Metashell stated before biting into the tree one last time, causing the tree's trunk to finally weaken and collapse to the ground.

"Stop talking and keep eating poyo!" Sharpkirby commented.

Megahound narrowed his optics as he backed away, planning to contact Windike to inform him of what he had found. Unfortunately this proved to be a mistake because the moment the mech took a step back, his pede ended up snapping a fallen branch, alerting the Insecticons to his presence. Knowing his cover was blown, Megahound quickly changed his servo into a blaster and began firing at the Insecticons along with his blaster in his other servo.  
Sharpkirby flew into the air along with Metashell before he changed into his bipedal form.

"Big mistake Autobot poyo!" he shouted as the white pincers on his back began glowing purple.

Megahound gasped in surprise when he saw lightning shoot from the mech's pincers. Without any seconds thoughts he quickly rolled on the ground and managed to take cover behind a boulder. He clenched his denta as he slammed his servo against his helm, activating his comm.

"Windike, get over to my coordinates now! I've encountered unknown beings that transform into giant robotic insects!" he shouted.

"Giant insects? Uh... Megahound, you've been careful when it comes to your share of energon right?" Windike replied in such, taking a moment to pause in confusion and disbelief.

"I am not over-energized!" the green mech snarled, angry at his comrade for thinking that.

But before anyone could say anything else, the Autobot yelped when he felt the boulder smash into his chassis. He grunted as he watched the boulder tumble through the forest before turning his helm back a bit to see that Kickdedede had kicked the boulder away with his large back legs. His engine revved as he scampered back onto his peds and resumed firing at the Insecticons, growing more and more annoyed as his opponents continued to dodge his fire and hoped that Windike would arrive soon.

Metashell transformed into his bipedal form and silently observed the battle between the Autobot and his fellow Insecticons. The small mech found himself impressed with Megahound's fighting and the power of his blasters. His yellow optics glanced to the side when he heard the sound of a speeding engine rapidly approaching their location. Deciding to take advantage of Megahound's battle techniques, the Insecticon charged summoned a black round orb from subspace and loaded it into the white blaster on his helm.

"Kickdedede and Sharpkirby, clear the way now!" he shouted before immediately firing.

The two Insecticons successfully jumped out of the way, allowing the orb to hit Megahound's helm.  
The green mech hissed in pain as he was knocked backwards and his chassis slumped against a nearby tree, feeling the black orb drill deeply into his helm. He was confused about what Metashell fired at him but the moment he tried to stand back up, much to his horror he discovered that he no longer had any control over his systems.

"Heh, good thinking with the cerebo-shell, now you have complete control over his systems." Kickdedede said as he transformed back into his bipedal form.

At that moment Windike finally arrived at the scene, managing to change from his vehicle form in with seconds. His mouth hung open in shock when he saw that Megahound was telling the truth about the Insecticons. But his shock grew even more when without warning he felt a fist smash into the side of his helm. He yelled out in pain and staggered, struggeling to regain his balance as he wiped away the energon dripping from his mouth. He turned toward his attacker and froze when he saw Megahound in a fighting stance with his blaster aimed at him.

"Megahound, have your logic circuits fried?!" Windike exclaimed.

The green much grunted as he desperately tried to regain control of his systems to no avail before shouting "It's not me, they taken control over me! Watch out!"

With that he charged up his blaster and fired at his fellow Autobot.  
Fortunately Windike managed to jump out of the way only to find himself quickly having to dodge the Insecticons who had began to fire upon him with their blasters as well. The gray and red mech took cover behind the tree as his vents tried to cool down his engine that was burning with panic. He was about to charge up his blaster until he realized that Megahound would still be forced to fire at him.

He snarled in frustration as he slammed his servo against the tree, knowing he had no choice but to fire at the mech as while. Hoping that he wouldn't cause any serious injuries, he jumped out from his cover and began firing at his opponents. But as he battled, he failed to notice both Kickdedede and Sharpkirby managed to sneak away from the battle and change back into their insect forms.

"Let's hurry and gather the rest of the energy while Metashell keeps those Autobots busy poyo. The sooner we get this done, the better poyo." Sharpkirby commanded.

Kickdedede nodded his head in agreement before they both quickly began eating away at the trees.  
Megahound shuttered his optics as he tried with all his might to fight against the force controlling him. His processor searched through all his systems, trying to make them obey his input commands but every single time he tried, he sensed another force imputing commands as well in his processor. That was when he remembered how Metashell shot the cerebp-shell in his helm.

Upon realization he shouted "That's it! Windike I need you to shoot me in the helm!"

Windike quickly dodged another laser blast before replying "Okay I know that you definitely fried your logic circuits."

Megahound growled in frustration as he began charged up his blaster as he stated "No, I mean that Insecticon is controlling me with something shot into my helm and it's overriding my processor commands. If you shoot my helm then you can destroy it!"

"Alright but just so you know, I'm letting Ratchet know so he won't beat me over the helm!" the gray mech said with a sigh.

Deciding to follow orders, Windike carefully aimed his blaster and fired at the Autobot's helm. His spark nearly stopped what as he watched the mech yell in pain as smoke burst from his helm and the light fade from his optics before collapsing on the ground. He directed his attention toward Metashell and raised an optic ridge in confusion when he saw the small mech holding his servos against his helm while yelling in pain. But he was snapped out of confusion when lightning hit his chassis, causing him to yell out in pain as he crashed to the ground. Windike groaned as he tried to grasp his surroundings but when the static finally cleared from his vision, he saw Metashell changing back into his insect form and retreating with the other Insecticons.

"Just who were those guys?" he muttered to himself before sitting up with a groan, ignoring the pain now coursing through his chassis.

He glanced over at Megahound's unconscious form and bit his lip in guilt. Without any hesitation he activated his comm link and contacted the Ark, hoping that he didn't unintentionally offline his comrade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Funny thing, when I originally wrote this chapter, it was a day before the Megaman successor Mighty No. 9 was revealed as a flop.


	24. Surprises

Chapter 24

"So you actually listened to him?" Sidesnake asked with his arms firmly crossed as he leaned against the wall, glancing down at Windike who remained still as Wheelegad repaired his damaged armor.

"There was little I could do, Sidesnake." Windike replied in an annoyed tone, "Those Insecticons had complete control over Megahound's systems and he would have kept on attacking. I'm just glad I didn't do any serious damage when I destroyed the cerebo-shell."

The two mechs didn't say another word as Ironlink entered the Medbay while muttering in frustration. He was angry with himself that his choices led to another Autobot falling in battle and being placed temporarily out of commission. It worried him with five members recovering in stasis, especially with one of them being Mario Prime himself. His digits pinched the bridge of his noseplates as his engine revved loudly.

"Okay so I managed to gather information from the Dinobots since I remembered Swoopdo and Snarldile mentioning the Insecticons. Apparently they were Cybertronian creatures that the Decepticons stumbled upon in one of their Energon Mines. Ganonwave saw potential in them and bribed them to their side with energon. Now it seems he sent them to Earth and I would guess they came with Shadowarachnia."

"You mean Peach right?" Wheelegad stated as he finished repairing Windike.

"As far as I'm concerned that femme isn't Peach. It doesn't matter what Mario saw, the real Peach would have never attacked her fellow Autobots, especially Mario. So if you see Shadowarachnia, take her down like any other Con." Ironlink stated in a stern tone.

Sidesnake remained silent as he glanced over at Windike; they were both surprised at how hostile the mech seemed but they didn't blame him since it was hard believe that the Decepticons managed to completely warp Peach to the point she didn't resemble her old self in both of the terms of looks and personality. Knowing that they would need to hunt down the Insecticons again, the young red and black mech summoned one of his swords from subspace and mindlessly twirled it around in his servo, planning to find his twin and hunt down the Insecticons.

Meanwhile at the ocean, all was quiet except for a blue car speeding along the terrain, causing grass and dirt to fly up in the air due to how fast the car was going. Eventually the car reached the edge of the ocean and instantly transformed to reveal Blurricks. The femme frantically turned her helm back and forth, making sure she was alone before jumping into the water, allowing the weight of her chassis to sink to the bottom of the ocean. Once there managed to easily spot the wreckage of the Decepticon ship. Blurricks smirked as she activated the thrusters on her back and launched herself forward, managing to swim through the water like a torpedo.

Within seconds she reached the outer hull of the ship as a she pull out a laser cutter from her gauntlet and created a hole, allowing herself to crawl in. With fast pace she pulled herself out of the water and pressed herself against the wall before she pressed a panel to open up the door and started dashing through the hallway.

"Okay so all I have to do is find the communications room and plant my device, not only will it expose any Decepticon spies but I may also find out where Commander Peach-One is. What do I still call her Peach-One or do I refer to her by the new name the Decepticons call her, but doing that would be disrespectful but based on the reports she doesn't recognize her former name. Ohh honestly it burns my engine that piece of scrap metal turned her into a freak. Wait I can't call her a freak, she's still my commander, then again..." Blurricks muttered to herself quickly, losing herself to her train of thoughts as she made her way through the ship.

It wasn't long until she reached her destination. She narrowed her blue optics as she summoned a communication bug device from her subspace and implanted it into the control panel. She was about to run off until much to her horror, the door slid open.

"Ugh. Yes, Skyreala, I would rather have you take me out for energon rather than get a check up from our medic and that says a lot." Thundernights said, but they both froze when they saw Blurricks.

"Autobot!" Skyreala snarled as he began firing.

The Autobot yelped as she quickly dodged the laser and catapulted herself over Skyreala by jumping up and shoving down the mech's helm, prompting him to crash to the ground as she dashed away.  
The black mech yelled in rage as he immediately stood back up. He was about to chase after her until he saw Thundernights calmly walk over to the control panel and began typing in commands.

"Thundernights, stop writing letters back to Cybertron and help me track down that Autobot!" he said.

The blue femme let out an annoyed sigh before replying "I'm not sending letters. I'm using the ship's security system to trap her, I want to find out exactly what she was doing snooping around in here."

She typed in a few more commands and slamming her servo against a panel.  
Blurricks' engine revved loudly as she saw the door she came in within sight. But unfortunately before she could even reach the door, a metal wall slammed down in front of her. She tried to turn around to find another escape route only for another metal wall to slam down. Her spark nearly stopped pulsing when she saw the walls started closing in one her. She clenched her denta as she leaned her back against the wall, terrified that there was no escape and she was guaranteed to get crushed into a cube. But without warning, a panel slid open, prompting her to fall backwards with a yelp.

She groaned as she shook her helm, clearing away the static only to find a confused Knockster staring at her.

"Well hey Doc, kind of dropped in but sorry I got to dash now!" Blurricks said before quickly running.

Knockster narrowed his optics as he quickly summoned his large brown wrench and threw it in front of the femme, cutting her off.

"I wouldn't dash off just yet Autobot." he said as he grabbed a shot.

Blurricks rolled her optics before she grabbed the wrench and sped toward the red mech, successfully pinning him against the wall. But before she could make a run for it she felt a sharp needle pierce her armor. She clenched her denta as she jerked away from the Decepticon and her optics widened when she saw Knockster have a stasis gas shot in his servo. Acting on instincts alone she immediately tried to escape the Medbay but as she made her way to the exit, her processor grew foggy and her systems were shutting down, making her movements sluggish.

The blue tried with all her might to fight against the gas but unfortunately her chassis collapsed on the floor. Blurricks groaned as she reached out her servo, trying one last attempt to escape but her optics deactivated and her helm clanked against the floor.  
Knockster smirked at this as he firmly grabbed ahold of his wrench and managed to pull it out of the wall, freeing himself. He walked over to the unconscious femme as he twirled the stasis gas shot in his servo.

"You made a big mistake coming here Autobot." he gloated before he threw her chassis on his shoulder and headed for the prisoner cells.

Thundernights grinned smugly at Skyreala with her servo firmly placed on her hipplate; they both had watched Blurricks encounter with Knockster from the security camera feed.

"See I told you it would work, now we can question her." she taunted with a smirk.

"Oh shut up." the black mech grumbled as he crossed his arms.

Without another word the two seekers left the communications room, but because they were preoccupied with the appearance of Blurricks, they failed to notice the communication bug the Autobot had implanted.

Back at Shadowarachnia's base, she setting a series of switches when the sound of buzzing reached her audio receptors. She grinned in satisfaction as she made her way to the cave's entrance to be greeted with the sight of the Insecticons arriving and transforming back into their bipedal forms.

"So how was the little errand I sent you on, you weren't spotted by Decepticons were you? I'm wanting to be more cautious since I caught Wartscream snooping around here earlier today." she asked.

"No Decepticons poyo! Just Autobots but Metashell easily took care of them poyo!" Sharpkirby answered proudly.

The femme nodded her helm, not too worried about the Autobots since she had already weakened their forces when she injected her cyber-venom into Mario. She commanded the three Insecticons to step into the pods and much to her pleasing they followed her orders. Shadowarachnia walked over to the control panel and turned on the machine, prompting the dark cave to be lit up with a purple glow. Her optics followed the trail of purple electricity to the purple pods littering the walls. Within seconds the pods cracked open to reveal Insecticons.

"The cloning machine is a success. Not only was I able to create copies of you but you three were also able to survive the cloning process since it takes a lot of energy to withstand having to stand in those pods with many volts of electricity coursing through your chassis. With this I will have an army I can control that will take care of both the Autobots and Bowsertron's troop if anymore of them manage to get on my bad side like Wartscream." Shadowarachnia stated as her purple servo stroked the robotic grasshopper's head.

The Insecticons said nothing as they stepped out of the pod and saw their multiple clones hatching from the pods. Kickdedede couldn't help but cringe slightly, finding it a little unsettling to have multiple mindless copies of himself that would only obey Shadowarachnia just like them thanks to the control chips Ganonwave had implanted in him and his comrades. He was awakened from his thoughts when Shadowarachnia stopped petting the Insecticon clone and turned toward her troop.

"I don't think that the army is at the appropriate size quite yet, but clearly just creating this batch took a toll on the machine, meaning that we will have to gather energon. I want your three to gather energon for yourselves to provide more energy to survive the cloning process and I'll collect energon for the machine. Understood?" she stated.

The three Insecticons nodded their helms in response. Without another word, Shadowarachnia changed in her spider form and left the cave. Since she didn't want to draw Decepticons to her plan, she planned to gather energy from an island not too far off from the coast that picked up huge energon readings on her scan. But as she made her way to her destination, she found her thoughts trailing on the state of Mario. She hissed in frustration, angry that apart of her seemed worried for the mech and hoped that he would recover soon. She still didn't understand the strange feelings she felt or the image of the pink femme in her memory logs, but for the moment she forced away the thoughts, deciding to focus on her task.

Meanwhile on Cybertron, Red Amy's vents cycled frantically as she carefully avoided the search lights of Decepticon soldiers. Ever since she received the news of Peach's transformation into Shadowarachnia, she hoped that the answer to maybe changing her back would lie in Ganonwave's lab. Gathering up her nerves and anxiety she quickly dashed for the lab entrance. Much to her relief, the femme successfully avoided stumbling into any of the soldier's line of sight. Her engine burned in worry as she dashed into the lab and started frantically typing away at the computer panel.

"Ah Primus, why am I acting as if I lost my logic circuits. This is stupid but hopefully will be worth the risk." Red Amy muttered to herself as she searched through the files as fast as she could.

She kept searching until much to her happiness she located a file that detailed the technorganic experiment Ganonwave had performed on Peach. Her optics quickly scanned every word, trying to observe as much information into her processor as possible. But right as she was about to read the last paragraph, the sounds alarms went off and the femme felt a laser blaster pressed against the back of her helm.

Her vents cycled gently to prevent herself from panicking when she heard the familiar voice of Ganonwave comment "I must commend you for getting in here undetected Autobot. But fortunately you didn't consider I had a silent alarm installed in my computer that would alert me the instant an intruder has hacked into it. Hmm, perhaps you could make a nice addition to my experiments."

Red Amy formed her servos into two firm fists and shuttered her optics. Knowing what she was about to do was a desperate attempt to prevent getting captured, she quickly spun around and swept her legs underneath Ganonwave and ran out of the lab. The sound of alarms blaring in her audio receptors and laser blast prompted her to transform into her vehicle form and speed off. But sadly this proved to be a terrible mistake when one of the Decpeticon soldiers shot a missile and successfully hit the medic.

The red femme yelled in pain as she was knocked out of her vehicle form and tumbled on the ground. She could feel both the hot sparks emitted from her broken helm and the cold energon leaking from her wound. She grunted as she pushed herself onto her knee-joints and servos, trying to grasp her surroundings. Fortunately in the distance she saw none other than Zeldia speeding toward her with Firerouge and Mooncreamer.

"Red Amy, what were you thinking coming here alone?!" Zeldia exclaimed as she fired at the Decepticon soldiers.

"I... I..." the medic tried to respond but she cut off with more groans as her exposed processor continued to spark.

She said nothing as she was hauled onto Firerouge's vehicle form before the troop quickly made their way back to their base. But as they did this, unknown to anyone, they failed to notice Red Amy's processor emit a large amount of sparks and her green optics flicker to red.

Back on Earth Sidesnake sped down the road in his vehicle form, constantly checking his scanners for the Insecticon signals. He glanced back at his twin brother trailing behind him in his yellow racecar form. He chuckled as a sly idea formed in his processor and without warning he revved his engine and took off in a flash. He couldn't help but laugh when he heard Sunsnake's angry yells at the discovery he was challenging him to a race. He successfully managed to take sharp roads as he raced his brother down the road. He had to admit that it was fun to race with his twin brother whenever they weren't attacked by Decepticons. Sidesnake checked his bond and while he could sense angry from his brother, he could also pick up a hint of excitement.

His tires screeched as he took a sharp turn off road, planning to take a short cut through the grass. He kept speeding until the sound of small beeping filled the air, he glanced down at his scanner to see a signal. He quickly changed into his bipedal form and summoned his two swords before silently following the source of the signal. A smug grin formed on Sidesnake's face as he neared the bushes, making sure that each of his footsteps were silent as to not give away his position. Without any second thoughts he jumped through them with a yell and his swords ready to strike. But before he could attack, his chassis froze in shock when he saw that the signal wasn't an Insecticon signal.

"I-It can't be." he whispered in disbelief.

Right in front of the red mech was a small femme with blue and white armor, staring up in fear with her green optics. He continued staring in shock until Sunsnake shouted angrily at him as he approached; angry that his twin brother took off but cut himself off when he saw the small femme staring at them.

"Sides, that isn't what I think it is." the yellow mech said in shock.

Quickly snapping out of his shock, Sidesnake finally spoke up "Nope I definitely see it too bro. We actually found a youngling."

The youngling femme continued to stare in fear for a few more seconds before finally she snarled as her black servos began blindly feeling around for a weapon. She managed to find a small rock and quickly threw it at Sunsnake's helm, earning a yell from the mech. She scampered to her feet and ran off, trying to put herself as much distance between her and her pursuers as much as possible. She kept running but unfortunately she felt to firm servos grab ahold of her and pick her off of the ground.

"Let go of me!" she yelled as she began wildly kicking around her legs.

She turned her blue and white helm to discover the one that had ahold of her was Sidesnake.

"Calm down kid. No one is here to hurt you." he stated in a stern tone.

"My name isn't kid, my name is Strongsamus!" the youngling snapped.

Sidesnake rolled his optics as he carried the youngling back to his twin brother who was still rubbing his helm. He was still shocked to find a youngling especially after he thought the war had wiped out all sparklings and younglings. He remembered how back on Cybertron when Mario sometimes sent troops to seek out survivors, they often would discover the lifeless bodies of younglings with their families.

"So how did you think she got here?" Sunsnake asked as he leaned closer, only to earn and angry glare from Strongsamus.

"Who knows, but I think we should take her back to the Ark and hopefully we'll get answers there." Sidesnake replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Samus Aran - Strongarm


	25. Dinos and a Spider

Chapter 25

Shadowarachnia carefully crept along the trees as she searched the area for the energy readings she was picking up; she let out a frustrated sigh when she saw no signs of power sources when her scanner was picking up a large amounts of readings. The purple femme hoped that she would find what she was seeking, especially since she had to go through the trouble of hiding herself on fishing boats going about their daily routes in order to reach the island since thanks to her organic half she couldn't survive in water. She kept searching until the sound of voices reached her audio receptors. This confused her deeply since she saw no signs of life when she was nearing the island, leaving her to wonder who was there. Deciding to investigate she transformed into her spider form and quickly scampered through the shadows of the trees, thankful for the cover they provided.

Shadowarachnia was able to spot a clearing that lead down into a large hole. Still managing to hide in the shadows, she carefully crawled down the cliff wall until she was greeted with the sight of the Dinobots. Her red eyes widened in surprise as she watched Yoshilock who was currently in his T-Rex form, stomping around in frustration.

"I can't believe it! It's bad enough that I don't like taking orders from Prime, but now you're saying we can't fight the Decepticons without that stupid red mech's orders!" Yoshilock yelled as his optics glowed brightly red.

Swoopdo sighed as she rubbed her digits against the crest of her helm before replying "I don't like staying out of the battle as much as you, Yoshilock, but Ironlink is in charge until Mario recovers from that cyber-venom. Unfortunately he and a few other Autobots have been stuck in stasis ever since they were attacked."

Yoshilock snorted in anger as his optics slowly changed back to his normal blue. It infuriated him the Autobots refused to let their team attack the Decepticons after learning how the same Decepticon that put him and his comrades through many torturous experiments to transform them in Dinobots and tried to control them managed to capture Peach and transform her for his own twisted goals. He remembered how Peach helped Swoopdo and Snarldile and even after he fell under Ganonwave's control, Peach still fought to free him.

Snarldile noticed his leader's actions before commenting with a sigh "We all want to smash up those cons for what they did to Peach, but Ironlink is the one that currently controls the Groundbridge, so we have to wait for his orders, no matter how much it angers us."

Shadowarachnia tilted her head when once again she heard the strange name. She didn't understand why the name had so much meaning to the Dinobots and Mario to the point she still can't figure out why the name alone made the Prime freeze in his actions. Deciding to push the strange name aside, the Decepticon decided to focus on the Dinobots themselves.

 _"None of the Decepticons knew where the Dinobots disappeared to after their battle. I didn't want Bowsertron to know I was here but unfortunately I may have to contact him in order to get in contact with Ganonwave. He'll be very pleased to know where his 'pets' had vanished to."_ she thought to herself.

She was about to activate her comm link when without warning Klag in his triceratop's form smashed his head against the rocky wall, creating a large crack and shaking Shadowarachnia from her perch. She yelped in surprise as she quickly shot webbing and latched onto a tree, preventing herself from crashing to the ground. Her head quickly looked around, making sure she still wasn't spotted and much to her relief, none of the Dinobots noticed her. But her relief quickly vanished when she heard the tree she had latched onto snapping, cracking from her weight. The Decepticon narrowed her red eyes in frustration as the tree snapped and she crashed to the ground, alerting the attention of the Dinobots.

"By the Martix it's her, it's worse than I imagined." Snarldile whispered as the Decepticon femme changed back into her bipedal form.

Shadowarachnia hissed as her extra legs pushed herself upright; she glared at the Dinobots as she reared back her upper legs. Wanting to gain one of their abilities to gain an advantage she quickly lunged forward but unfortunately for her Yoshilock was able to easily smash her away with his tail, resulting in her to tumble on the ground. She lifted up her helm to see the robotic T-Rex standing protectively in front of his troop.

"Peach-One, I know this isn't your doing but rather Ganonwave's. But despite the fact you helped my comrades in the past, I will not hesitate to subdue just like you were forced to do with me." Yoshilock snarled in a threatening yet protective tone.

"Why do you Autobots keep addressing me by that name?" Shadowarachnia replied bitterly as she stood back up, "I don't know who this Peach is but I know where my loyalties lie and that's with the Decepticons."

The Dinobot leader narrowed his optics, knowing she truly had no memory of her life as an Autobot thanks to Ganonwave, leaving them with no choice but to battle her. He nodded his head to his comrades, prompting them to transform into their dino forms. He let out a mighty roar before blasting his fire breath toward his opponent.  
Shadowarachnia quickly jumped out of the way and latched onto the cliff wall. She clenched her fanged denta tightly as she shot her webbing at Yoshilock's feet. Seeing the dino was temporarily stuck, the femme took advantage of this by jumping on to Yoshilock's back and quickly stabbed her upper spider legs into his neck. But much to her horror, due to Ganonwave making the Dinobots with extremely protective armor to help them handle endurance in their dino forms, she was unable to pierce his armor and inject her cyber-venom.

"Blast, your stupid armor!" she snarled out loud before getting blasted to the side by Swoopdo.

"Our armor you say? Well I guess that's one thing we have to thank Ganonwave for." Snarldile smirked before slamming his tail against a large tree, sending it tumbling toward the Decepticon.

Shadowarachnia was able to jump over the tree trunk with ease and blasted more webbing at the Dinobots due to her webs being her only weapons against them since she knew the Dinobots were smart enough to stay in their Dino forms to protect themselves from her stingers. She kept fighting until she was backed into a corner; she tried to climb up the cliff wall behind her only to freeze when Swoopdo blasted fire above her helm as a warning shot.

"Face it, Shadowarachnia, we have you cornered!" Yoshilock stated in a stern tone.

Before the black and purple femme could reply, the sound of buzzing filled the air. A dark grin formed on her face before she shot a strand a web upwards above the Dinobots and was jerked off the ground. The Dinobots quickly turned their heads in the direction she took off and what they saw nearly made their energon burn in range. Flying through the sky was the Insecticons who had completed Shadowarachnia's orders and raced to her location when they received a distress signal. Shadowarachnia had her web hooked onto one of Sharpkirby's legs with a victorious grin on her face.

"Long time no see Dinobots poyo! I see your buddy Snarldile recovered nicely poyo!" Sharpkirby shouted with a laugh.

"Which is surprising considering the state we left him in, but it was worth it for the tasty energon!" Metashell taunted.

Snarldile snarled as his optics flickered to red a few seconds as the memory log surfaced of him screaming in pain with pain tubes injected into his chassis, weakening him as the Insecticons tore into him, causing tons of energon to flow from his wounds. He glanced over at Swoopdo to see her snarling in rage as well and using all her strength to prevent herself from flying up and attacking with her fire as to not hurt Shadowarachnia since it was still the femme that helped them escape in the first place.

"Well as much as I would like my Insecticons to demolish you." Shadowarachnia began, emitting a dark chuckle before continuing, "Unfortunately I have more important matters to intend to. So until next time Dinobots."

Yoshilock's engine revved with rage as he yelled "We may be enemies for now, Shadowarachnia, but I know one day Peach will awaken within you one orn!"

The spider femme rolled her optics but all of the sudden another memory log surfaced once again. She furrowed her optic ridges when she saw the image of the strange pink femme once more with Yoshilock, Swoopdo, and an injured Snarldile. The pink femme's lips were formed in a small smile as she promised that she would return to free Yoshilcok and the rest of the Dinobots. Shadowarachnia groaned as she pressed her purple servo against her helm before commanding the Insecticons to fly back to their base. As they took off she glanced back at the Dinobots who grew smaller and smaller in the distance, growing confused when her spark pulsed in pain much like it did with Mario.

Meanwhile at the Decepticon base, everyone was groaning in frustration as Blurricks' voice echoed from her containment cell, talking none stop about how poorly made the ship was and how they should consider at least making her cell more decent. Skyreala yelled as he constantly slammed his helm against the wall, hoping that if he slammed it hard enough he could knock himself into stasis and spare himself from the femme's constant chatter.

"Does that thing even have an off switch?!" Wartscreamed shrieked with his servos firmly slapped over his audio receptors.

Knockster sighed as he rubbed his digits against both sides of his helm as he replied "I did a complete lookover while I was disabling her weapons and unfortunately no she doesn't. At this rate I'm wondering how the Autobots were able to stand her. She keeps asking me if Bowsertron has any fish spies working for him."

Thundernights' optic twitched before she exclaimed "I can't believe I'm saying this but if she doesn't shut up, I will offline her this instant with my blaster!"

The Decepticons continued to complain about the chatter before they took notice of Jetdark leaning against the wall with his optics shuttered and his arms firmly folded across his chestplates, they were confused how the mech was able to survive such annoying chatter. Deciding to get answers, Thundernights asked the mech how the sound didn't annoy him but much to her confusion he did not reply or even flinch. She asked the question again only to once again receive no response.

Upon seeing this, Knockster sighed as he slapped his servo against his helm before stating "He shut off his audio receptors, no wonder he hasn't complained yet."

"Well that's stupid, if he has his audio receptors off, how will he ever hear any orders?" Wartscream commented in disgust.

"At this rate, you won't even hear orders with that chatter anyway." Thundernights groaned before she turned off her audio receptors as well, smiling when she was rewarded with blissful silence.

Skyreala wasn't able to hear his comrade's solution for shutting off their audio receptors so he continued smashing his helm against the wall. The blue femme snickered at this as she leaned against the wall, considering the sight of the mech she grown to despise hurting himself as a bonus.

Blurricks' grinned as she paced back and force in her cell, constantly making complaints as she sent out a silent distress signal, a program she was equipped with if she ever got captured. With her existence revealed to the Decepticons, she knew that she could no longer be the recon agent she once was since troops would be alerted to keep an eye out for her. She kept chatting away until she heard the sound of her cell opening up. She immediately spun around to be greeted with the sight of Bowsertron glaring at her.  
The Decepticon leader snarled, revealing his razor sharp denta as he approached the femme and pressed the end of his fusion canon against her chestplates.

"Alright Autobot, I would advise you start talking now." he threatened.

A sly smirk formed on Blurricks face before she quickly said "You want me to talk, that's absolutely perfect because ever since I got captured I've been doing nothing but talking. Like seriously have you taken a look at this cell, it's such a shabby state, you seriously need to consider upgrading. Speaking of upgrades why have you never considered having your chassis upgraded so you can transform into a jet or helicopter, I mean you already pretty much fly everywhere so would it make sense if your vehicle form could fly everywhere too. I mean how many times have you actually traveled using your tank form, last I counted you only used it for combat uses only. And another thing..."

But she immediately found herself interrupted when Bowsertron grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall.

"Enough games Autobot! I want to know who you are and what you were trying to do in the command room!" he shouted in rage as he pushed harder on her neck, earning a small yelp from the blue femme.

Blurrick's clenched her denta as warning messages flashed in her vision. One her optics shuttered tightly as her servos instinctively clawed at the servo firmly clamped around her neck. Even if the Decpeticon Leader was threatening to crush her main energon line and offline her, she still refused to give up any information in order to protect Peach's troop back on Cybertron. Instead she forced a grin on her face as she shoved her blue pede on Bowsertron's face and activated her tire, prompting it to screech as it spun against his face.  
The grey mech yelled in pain as he instantly dropped the femme, revealing a large black tire mark across his face.

"Vectorwave, extract the information I seek!" he commanded before storming out of the cell.

Vectorwave entered the cell and said nothing as his servos began glowing purple.

Back at the Ark, Sidesnake sat in a chair with his helm propped up by his servo as he stared at the youngling before him who continued to glare at him with her green optics and her arms folded tightly across her blue and white chestplates. He still couldn't get over the fact that he and his twin brother managed to find a youngling on Earth when everyone was convinced the war had wiped out all the younglings and sparklings. He smiled slightly in an attempt to try to make the femme warm up to him slightly and understand why he dragged her back to the Ark but much to his disappointment the youngling narrowed her optics more.

Sidesnake sighed as he dragged his servo down his face before commenting "I still don't see why you're giving me that death glare. You are aware that I'm apart of the good guys?"

Strongsamus simply huffed before replying "Last I checked, good guys don't take you against your will and drag you off to some unknown location."

The red mech formed an annoyed look on his face as the femme continued to glare at him; he didn't understand why she couldn't be grateful for the fact she was found by an Autobot rather than one of the Decepticons. He could tell the youngling didn't trust anyone but that still left him to wonder why she was on Earth in the first place and where her parents could be.

He released another sigh before saying "Look, we got off on the wrong foot but how about we start fresh. The name's Sidesnake and I'm a part of the Autobots aka the good guys."

"Oh, Sidesnake, perfect. I can now know the name of the scrap metal that kidnapped me in the first place." she remarked in a bitter tone.

Sidesnake jolted back a bit in surprise, shock that a youngling knew such language, making him wonder who her parents possibly were. Before he could open his mouth to try to get the youngling to warm up to him once again, he saw Callister enter the room.

"Sides, how about you let a femme handle this. Besides Ironlink wants to see you in the command room anyway, a report just came in on the Insecticons from the Dinobots." the red femme stated.

Sidesnake grunted as he sat up but as he headed to the command room, he glanced back at Strongsamus to see her stick her glossa out at him, prompting him to do the same before he left the room.  
Calliester rolled her gold optics before she sat down in front of the youngling with a small smile on her face.

"Hey I know us Autobots hadn't left the best first impression on you but you can talk to me. I'm not like bolts for processor Sides just a while ago." she said with a small laugh.

Strongsamus did not reply as she stared at the femme, while she was happy it was no longer Sidesnake trying to talk to her, she still felt uneasy about talking to a stranger. She continued to remain silent but much to her surprise Calliseter chose to wait but simply transforming into her alt form which was a red boombox and play music from the radio waves she picked up emitting from the city. She watched the femme continue to change the channels, searching for the right music until she stumbled upon a police radio call.

"Whoops, wrong radio waves. I'll just.." Callister started to say but was immediately grew confused when the youngling shouted for her to wait.

She was confused why the blue and white femme wanted to listen to a report about a couple of human police officers in a hot pursuit of bank robber leading them in a high-speed traffic chase. Though her confusion quickly vanished when she saw the excitement on Strongsamus' face as she listened to the pursuit as she got on her servos and knee-joints and she leaned as close as she could to her.

"Wait you actually like listening to this?" the red femme asked out of curiosity.

The youngling rapidly nodded her helm before replying "I love the idea of chasing down criminals. It's something I admire from my guardian. She's been watching over me ever since my parents were offlined. She chases down criminals all the time and she never gives up until those Ridleycron spawns are locked up where they belong."

"Wait you're parents are dead?" Calliester asked.

Strongsamus' chassis froze when she realized she had unintentionally revealed personal information all because she let herself get distracted by her love of law enforcement. She pursed her lips and turned away from the red femme, intending not to say another word as to not accidentally reveal anymore crucial information.  
Calliester was about to reply until she heard Ironlink's voice calling for her. She sighed as she transformed back into her bipedal form and made her way to the command room, thinking about the information the youngling had given her. While she now knew the femme had no parents, she saw how the youngling mentioned a guardian meaning that someone had found her first, leaving her to wonder who the mystery guardian could be.


	26. Time of Action

Chapter 26

Ironlink's blue optics glanced around at the many Autobots present in the Command Room. His vents deeply cycled in air as he shuttered his optics, gathering his thoughts. After a few seconds he gently banged his servos against the control panel, prompting all the Autobots to turn their helms toward him. Seeing he had gained their attention, he nodded to Wheelegad who immediately typed away at the control panel and brought up the image of the map on the ship's computer screen with two sets of signals.

"Alright guys listen up." Ironlink said in a loud and commanding tone, "We got two situations here. Thanks to the efforts of Windike and the Dinobots, we know that Shadowarachnia is commanding the Insecticons. Mastertran-1 managed to pick up their signals with the scan range and they along with readings of a large amount of energy was heading for the city. I'm going to need one group to take them out and if you can, take Shadowarachnia into custody. We're not sure if we can restore her back to being Peach-One but it's best if she was in our custody since her cyber-venom provides an advantage to the Decepticons."

He took a pause as he walked over to the other side of the screen and pointed his index digit at the signal readings before continuing "About three breems ago, Mastertran-1 received an Autobot distress signal around the same coordinates where the Decepticons crashed into the ocean, obviously they were taken prisoner so I'll need a small rescue team but you'll have to be wary since you'll be in the enemy's territory."

Jazzden glanced over at the screen before stating "Calliester, Trailston, and I will take the Dinobots and deal with the Insecticons. With Callister's ability to pick up the human radiowaves, it'll be a snap for her to pick up the human authorities so we can stay out of sight and Kongbreaker's forcefeild can make sure the Dinobots don't cause too much damage since they'll be needed to them since Shadowarachnia's cyber-venom is useful on them while in dino form."

"And I guess me and Sun here will rescue the Autobot from the Decepticon ship, we've handled worse." Sidesnake said as he gestured his servos at his twin who glared at him.

Ironlink nodded his helm, prompting the selected Autobots to dash out of the Ark while the rest returned to the normal routines but remained on standby in case they were needed.  
Descole watched the Autobots leave while he was assembling a broken blaster, finding it surprising how many parallels he continued to draw with the Cybertronians and the Gollums built by the ancient Azran civilization. He was stirred from his thoughts when noticed Ness and Jeff entered the room with disturbed expressions.

"What's wrong with you boys?" he asked as he set down his tools.

Ness sighed before he answered "I'm a little worried about Paula. She's never left the Medbay ever since Bulkmurray fell into stasis. I've seen her constantly using her PK healing powers, hoping maybe they could heal him much like they could humans but it never works. It's getting harder and harder to explain to her parents for her constant absence."

"And Ratchet stated that he noticed that Daisy is having a little more trouble recovering thanks to venom being more effective against her organic half thanks to the venom mostly being an organic substance due to Shadowarachnia's own technorganic nature. He's not sure how much longer it'll take for her to recover. If only there was an antidote, then Ratchet could treat them and they all could recover faster." Jeff stated with a frown.

Descole was about to comment but then he paused when he thought about Jeff saying the word antidote. He firmly pressed his index and middle fingers against the side of his forehead and tapped it a few times in thought; he recalled how people create antidotes by gathering samples of the venom that want to counteract before injecting it in animal's bloodstream and extracting the blood which contains antibodies fighting against the venom. Without warning his crimson-like eye snapped open and he snapped his fingers when an idea struck him.

"We can create an antidote, all we need is to gather a sample of her venom." he said with a victorious smirk.

The two young boys' frown vanished at they stared at each other in shock before Descole proceeded to explain his plan on how to obtain the venom.

Meanwhile in the city, Shadowarachnia sat on the perch of the building, watching as the Insecticons assemble a large signal antennae with grunts and groans. Once they held it stable, she shot some of her webbing at the base of the antennae to temporarily hold it in place before she made her way over to the small control panel and made sure everything is properly functioning.

"Why do we even have to set up this stupid antennae poyo?" Sharpkirby grumble as he continued to firmly hold it in place.

"Because I need it for your clones. I want a large transmission range so they'll be able to pick up my commands from hundreds of kliks away. I'll need them ready in case..." she started to stay.

But her chassis stiffened when she found herself interrupted by a familiar voice saying "In case of what, Shadowarachnia?"

The black femme spun around to be immediately greeted with the sight of Bowsertron and Jetdark landing on the roof. She did her best to hide back her snarl of anger at the fact she no longer had an advantage over the Decepticon Leader. She asked him how he managed to locate her only to grow confused when the gray mech explained how he had Vectorwave use his telepathic programs to gather information from an Autobot's processor he had recently captured.

"I learned she was a spy that was reporting on all events and that included you trying to build an army consisting of Insecticon clones behind my back." he stated with a hint of anger and malice lingering in his voice.

Shadowarachnia reared back her upper legs slightly as she noticed Jetdark shift one of his servos into his flamethrowers, preparing himself in case she decided to betray them. Deciding that she needed to salvage her efforts, she formed a sly smirk on her face as she walked over to Bowsertron.

"Lord Bowsertron." she began in a slight sultry tone as she fanned out her talons on her chestplates as if she was shocked and hurt, "Why would I ever want to betray the mech that plans to restore Cybertron back to its glorious state, after all I am no Wartscream. I did not tell you I was building an army simply because I did not see need to concern you. But now they are created, you can now use this army and crush the Autobots with greater numbers."

She smirked as she leaned herself on the gray mech's chestplates, prompting Jetdark to immediately point his flamethrower at her helm. She rolled her optics as she gently grabbed the orange mech's wrist and pulled away the flamethrower before directing her attention back to the Decepticon Leader. She noticed how he stared at her with a raised optic ridge to silently question her actions which only caused her smirk to grow slyer. She pushed up her pedes, allowing her to lean in close the mech's face and her other servo rested upon his shoulder.

"Believe me, Lord Bowsertron. I am completely loyal to you. If I wanted to betray you then I would have injected you with my cyber-venom by now." she stated.

Bowsertron did not reply as he thought about the femme's words. While he knew she did make valid points, he still wanted to keep his guard up in case she was lying, something he learned to do from Wartscream's many attempts to kill him and quickly try to regain favor by being a suck-up, something that annoyed him rather than pleased him. Without a word he finally gently pushed Shadowarachnia away before his red optics glanced at the antennae.

"So if I heard you correctly earlier, this antennae will send out commands to the Insecticon army?" he said.

"Yes, it'll basically amplify my command inputs, something that is really required because while the clones have the Insecticons abilities, they do not have freewill, meaning they're pretty much mindless beasts." she answered.

"Hey I resent that since there are clones of me!" Kickdedede yelled in anger.

Ignoring the Insecticon's comment the gray mech narrowed his optics in acceptance as he stated "Well your army will have the chance to prove themselves and we'll see how exactly loyal you are."

Without another word Bowsertron and Jetdark took off, allowing the femme to finally hiss in frustration as she stopped her heeled pede on the ground so hard that it cracked slightly. Her talons slightly dug into her arm slightly before she commanded the Insecticons to finish the construction on the antennae, having no other choice to set it up for the Decepticon Leader. But despite his knowledge of the Insecticon army, she still believed she had an advantage over him and that was that she could still control the army herself and if Bowsertron ever tries to eliminate her she would have her Insecticons at the ready.

Later that day Sidesnake and Sunsnake arrived at the ocean's edge where they knew the Autobot's distress signal was emitting from.

"Okay so we made it, now the question how are we suppose to rescue this Autobot without managing to get captured ourselves, after all this is basically entering the Decepticon base we're talking about." Sidesnake commented as he leaned over the water slightly, trying to see if he could spot any Decepticons leaving their ship.

"The obvious solution is stealth." Sunsnake answered as he summoned a small needle gun from his subspace, "Before we left, Wheelagad gave me some of the nanites Keiracer developed so we would appear as Decepticons on their radars."

"We let's hope he didn't try to alter them or there's a chance this will backfire on us." the red mech commented as his twin brother grabbed his arm and injected the nanites into him before doing the same to himself.

With the nanites hiding their signals, the two mechs entered radio silence before jumping in the water and allowing the heavy weight of their chassis to sink to the bottom. Once there they were able to easily find the crashed ship and spotted the hole left behind by Blurricks. Figuring it was the best way to get in, they both entered the hole and pulled themselves out of the water.  
Sunstreaker signaled with his servo for them to split up before pressing the panel and opening the door. Within seconds he dashed away from his twin, searching for the prisoner cell. He kept running until he saw one of the doors opening up.

Thinking fast the mech slammed his chassis against the corner as he remained silent as he saw Vectorwave, Marible, and Skyreala walking down the hallway.

"Honestly, Skyreala, Vectorwave was getting the information perfectly fine. You didn't need to storm in and almost offline that Autobot. You know if her spark was extinguished, we wouldn't be able to get more information from her processor. It's a good thing Vectorwave called on me to get you away from her." the purple femme commented in a bitter tone as she glared at the black seeker.

"Well it was her fault she refused to shut up. Even while Vectorwave was gathering information, she still talked away about his abilities and kept constantly asking if he had spies planted all over the city. You should be thanking me for what I did." Skyreala snapped.

Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge upon hearing this as he left his hiding spot once the three Decepticons were gone. Wasting no time he ran over the door they left from and opened it up but the moment he stepped inside, much to his shock he immediately found himself harshly slammed to the ground. He glanced up to see none other than Blurricks glaring at him with coolant streaking down her face and in a fighting stance and one of her servos clasped against her neck. He grunted as he sat up, revealing the Autobot insignia on his chestplates.

Blurricks' glare immediately faded when she saw the mech she had attacked was a fellow Autobot. Without any hesitation she reached out with her free servo and helped the yellow mech stand back up.

"So I'm guessing you're the Autobot they took prisoner, well so much for gratitude." Sunsnake said with an annoyed sigh.

Blurricks nodded her helm as she smiled sheepishly, prompting the mech growing more confused at the fact she wasn't speaking. At that moment he remembered how Marible mentioned that Skyreala had did something that almost offlined her.

"Before we get out of here, I heard the Decepticons mention Skyreala did something to you, I would like to know so our medic back at the Ark can treat you." he stated.

The femme frowned sadly as her blue optics glanced downward. Her chassis shook slightly as she slowly lowered her servo from her neck, revealing a large gapping hole with torn circuitry and cables with her main energon cable barely avoided from getting torn with a few scratch marks. Her engine revved both in anger and sadness as she recalled Skyreala burst in the prison cell and dug his clawed digits deeply in her neck before ripping and pulling out her voice box, rendering her speechless.

Sunsnake didn't reply as he narrowed his optics, needing no words to guess how heartbroken the femme was from loosing her ability to speak. Figuring they stood around for too long, he gestured his servo behind him before dashing out of the prison cell with Blurricks trailing behind him. They kept running until he managed to spot Sidesnake running toward him with a panicked look.

"Sun, we need to go now!" the red mech shouted as he dashed pass the two Autobots.

Sunsnake was confused until he heard snarling and saw none other than Huntage and Laserduck dashing down the hallway. Wasting no time the mech and femme quickly turned around and chased after their fellow Autobot, making their way to the escape route. Within seconds they dashed into the room, prompting Sunsnake to hold the door closed while he yelled at his twin brother to get Blurricks to safety.  
Sidesnake nodded his helm before wrapping his arm securely around the femme's midriff and jumped into the water. He didn't dare look back as he changed into his car form with Blurricks clinging onto his roof.

His engine revved loudly as he managed to zoom the water with ease before reaching shore once more. He changed back into his bipedal form and spun toward the ocean, growing a little worried if his twin brother made it out of the Decepticon ship. He stared at the ocean until finally much to his relief he saw a yellow car burst out of the water and screech to a stop.

"Sun, I was starting to worry you weren't able to escape." Sidesnake commented as the yellow mech transformed back into his bipedal form.

"By the way, do I dare ask how the pit you managed to get those two scrappers to chase your aft?" Sunsnake asked with his arms crossed as he shot an accusing glare toward his twin.

The red mech smiled nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck and replied "I sort of gave into temptation and used Laserduck as target practice. But it was worth it to see that robotic duck take a nose dive and Huntage have to catch him like one of those hunting dogs I've seen on TV."

Back in the city, Ness clutched his red cap in his hands tightly as he remained curled up in the floor of Trailston's vehicle form which he had snuck into before the troop took off. He couldn't believe his was following through Descole's plan to gather a sample of Shadowarachnia's cyber-venom to create an antidote. He thought back to the small meeting when the brown-headed man assigned him the duty of getting the sample, believing he would be able to defend himself better with his psychic powers and that the spider femme would be less likely to spot him with his small size.

_"I just hope Espiowl never gets wind of this plan. If he were to find out, I would never hear the end of it."_ the young boy thought to himself before he finally felt Trailston stop.

"I just spotted Insecticons over on top of that building, Calliester check the radio waves." Jazzden stated.

Calliester turned the dial on her boom box until she picked up a news report about how the section of the city had been closed off for a film.

"We should be clear for now, but we need to be quick unless you want to be caught on film and used in a summer blockbuster where everyone will discover our existence." the femme stated.

Ness fortunately managed to crawl out of the black van unseen and unheard just in time as the Autobots transformed. His brown eyes glanced at the building, figuring that if Insecticons were up there then most likely Shadowarachnia would be there too. Gathering up his courage, he hands tightly gripped the large needle shot gun given to him by Descole as he quickly darted into the building.  
Trailston formed his forcefield around the area as Jazzden called in for the groundbridge. Within seconds the green glowing gate appeared and out from it emerged the Dinobots.

"Where are those creeps, I'm dying to squash them." Snarldile commented with an excited grin.

"Wait don't go after them yet!" the Jazzden commanded as he pulled out his sword and stood his ground in front of the troop, "The last thing we need is for you Dinobots to bring a building crumbling down. What we need to do is draw the Insecticons to us so Trailston over here can contain most of the damage."

"Get their attention, oh that'll be a snap. Just watch me pull off this totally fresh maneuver." Calliester replied as she changed her servos into her sonic wave blasters and began playing loud rock music.

Upon hearing the loud music, the Dinobots immediately yelled out in pain as they slapped their servos over their audio receptors, preferring the idea of destroying the building instead of having to suffer what they considered to be wretched noise.  
The music blared loudly as the sound waves were strong enough to reach the top of the building. The Insecticons were about to finish work on the antennae until the noise reached their audio receptors, prompting them to yell in pain.

"What's that horrible sound?" Kickdedede shouted, having trouble hearing due to the loud music.

"It sounds worse than Scraplets feasting on a Cybertronian." Metashell grumbled as he went over the edge and spotted Callister with the Dinobots.

"There's the source and those stupid Dinobots are there too poyo! Let's take them all down poyo!" Sharpkirby yelled before he jumped off the building with his blaster ready, shortly followed by his two companions.

Yoshilock stopped holding his servos over his audio receptors when he saw the Insecticons charging for them. His optics narrowed and a vicious grin formed on his face as he summoned his sword and made it engulfed in fire. The other Dinobots followed their leaders example and the moment the Insecticons finally reached the ground, they charged, burning with the need of vengeance.  
Jazzden looked around and frowned when he saw there was no sign of Shadowarachnia; hoping she was still on the roof the white mech signaled to Calliester before he darted into the building, thankful that it wasn't occupied by any of the film crew.

Ness panted as he finally reached the top of the building, his lungs burning from the fact he made the mistake of running up the stairs. He took a few sluggish and tired steps as he looked around, searching for any sign of Shadowaracnia but much to his worry and fear, he saw no sign of her. But then without warning webbing had been shot at him, and firmly binding his arms in place. The young boy couldn't prevent the scream of fear emitting from his mouth as he was jerked up into the air and found himself dangling in front of the Decpeticon femme's face with her red optics narrowed, revealing the reason he hadn't spot her was because she had hid herself by hanging onto the back of the building, out from the sights of the Autobots.

"Don't think I didn't notice you snooping around." Shadowarchnia smirked.

She carefully studied the young boy's appearance, recalling how he was one of the children she saw trick-or-treating. Her optics glanced at his hands to see the needle shot gun still being held tightly in his grasp. Using her free servo, she managed to easily pluck it from his tight grip.

"And pray tell what were you planning to do with this?" she taunted as she kept constantly twirling it around one of her talons, "It has no liquid in it so you weren't planning to knock me out which means you were planning to obtain something from me, but the question is what that thing is."

Ness formed a brave and stern look on his face, doing his best to hide his fear from the Decepticon as he asked "How do you know it was you I was after, I could have been after one of the Insecticons."

Upon hearing this, Shadowarachnia chuckled slightly before answering "It's too painfully obvious because I have noticed that Prime himself has failed to make an appearance, meaning he's still in stasis lock thanks to my cyber-venom and while Metashell had caused that Autobot to get injured, there's nothing you can obtain from him since the Autobot can recover on his own, which leaves only me as the target."

The young boy did not reply as he glanced downward, unsure of what to say since now he knew he couldn't lie to trick the femme since she would be able to easily see through those lies.

The black and purple femme grinned darkly when she saw the boy's expression, knowing she was right, leading her believe the only thing he had came for was her venom in order to try to create an antidote to help the Autobots. She hummed slyly as a plan began formulating in her processor, believing that she could use the information to her advantage.

"You know, I already have antidotes since I was required to create them for the Decepticons incase any of them were accidentally stung by me. I would be happy to provide some to the Autobots if they do me one favor." she said as the boy stared up in her in confusion before continuing, "Give me Mario Prime."


	27. Remember Me

Chapter 27

"What, you're expecting the Autobots to hand over Mario to the Decepticons?! They would never do that, not even for your antidotes that for all I could know could just be more cyber-venom just so you could finish off your victims!" Ness snapped as he jerked around his body in an attempt to free himself from his bonds.

Shadowarachnia hissed as she narrowed her red optics, infuriated that the young human dared to speak up to her when she could easily let go of the web that held him up and allow him to fall screaming to his death. She was about to open her mouth in reply until she heard a voice shout the words PK Fire loudly. The femme didn't have time to see where the yell had come from when within seconds a blast of fire hit her servo. She shrieked in pain and upon reflex, released the strand of web holding up Ness.

The young boy screamed as he started plummeting at tops speeds, but then much to his surprise his body jerked and slammed against the building. He squeezed his brown eyes shut when the glass window shattered and he tumbled into the room, with broken glass cracking underneath his body, stabbing into him and creating a few bleeding cuts. Ness groaned as he felt blood trickle down his forehead and to his nose. His senses were dulled to the point he could barely make out the footsteps running toward him.

His world continued spinning, unable to grasp his surroundings as someone sat him up and freed him from his bonds. The young boy blinked his eyes a few times until finally he felt warmth start spreading throughout his body. He sighed in relief as the old pain began to fade away but when his vision returned, he nearly jumped when he saw Paula holding his hand into both of hers as it glowed blue.

"Paula, what are you doing here?" Ness asked in confusion.

The blonde-headed girl glared at him before she released his hand and whacked him on the shoulder hard, earning a pained yelp from the boy due to the fact the pain from his previous wounds hadn't completely faded away.

"What was that for?" he said as he rubbed his arm.

"I heard you and Jeff talking with Descole about the crazy plan you've concocted! You're lucky I decided to sneak into Jazzden when I saw you climbing into Kongbreaker. Ness, what was going through your mind?!" Paula snapped with her hands firmly planted on her hips.

Ness sighed, understanding his friend's anger before explaining "I just wanted to help the Autobots, if Descole went to you instead of me and explained how the antidote would help the Autobots in the Medbay, including Bulkmurray and Daisy, tell me would you still say no even then?"

The young girl opened her mouth to immediately answer but much to her shock she froze when her mind was drawing blanks; she knew it was dangerous to try to gather venom from a deadly Decepticon but she couldn't find the strength to say she wouldn't face the danger especially if it meant to save her friends. Fortunately the tension filling the air was interrupted by a loud bang and the building shaking. The two children got up and ran out of the room and back up to the roof. Once there they were greeted by the sight of Jazzden clashing with Shadowarachnia in battle.

The white mech's working optic glanced at the spider legs slamming toward him before he quickly whipped around his sword and deflected the legs. He stayed aware of his surroundings as he watched the femme hiss as she cautiously circled him, searching for an opportunity to attack. He still found it hard to believe that the vicious femme before him was once the kind and brave femme commander Peach-One, leaving him to wonder exactly what the Decepticons did to her to leave her in such a state.

"I have to admire your bravery Autobot." Shadowarachnia taunted as she jumped back and shot some webbing, prompting Jazzden to quickly slice it in half with his sword before continuing, "I usually expect no one to face me with my ability to render my opponents helpless."

"That's because us Autobots refuse to give up on you, Peach." Jazzden replied in a stern tone.

The black and purple femme grinded her fanged denta together in anger before yelling "I am not Peach, I don't even know who this Peach is! At first I found it mildly amusing but now I've lost my patience that you scrap metals refuse to get your facts straight!"

Without warning she lunged at Jazzden and pinned him to the ground. She slammed her upper spider legs toward him but much to her frustration, he was able to hold them back with his sword.  
The mech kicked his pede against her torso and knocked her off him. He managed to sit up just in time to see her transform into her spider form and charge toward him. Jazzden immediately got into a fighting stance with his sword ready, but much to his shock instead of attacking, the spider simply jumped over him and latched onto the side of the building and scampered down it at top speeds.

The mech was about to chase after her until he spotted both Ness and Paula watching from their hiding place. His engine revved as he recalled how he managed to find Paula hiding in his vehicle form when he felt banging in his torso, discovering the young girl was accidentally trapped inside of him since she hadn't got out before he transformed but thanks to her small size she didn't get crushed by his inner workings.

"I'll deal with your two's actions later but right now, just stay put and out of trouble." he said in a stern tone before jumping off the building after Shadowarachnia.

Back on the ground, Kickdedede yelled as he was sent flying by Klag with his fiery club, resulting in him smashing against Trailston's forcefield. The turtle-like mech snickered at the sight of this before charging at the Insecticon once more.  
Metashell barely dodged Swoopdo's attack as she swung her fiery mace at him with her battle cry sounding primal and vicious.

"Looks like they're still more prone to rage despite the Autobot's removing the chips." the small Insecticon commented.

Without a word he quickly summoned one of his cerebo-shells and blasted it at the Dinobot femme. Unfortunately for him the cerebo-shell didn't get the chance to drill into her processor because Snarldile managed to catch it in his servo. His yellow optics widened slightly as the mech shot him a dark grin before he watched him crush the cerebo-shell in his servo. Due to the mental connection required for the device, Metashell shrieked upon its destruction, receiving pain from the forcibly broken connection.

"Hurts? Good, now you might get an idea of what you made all of us suffer through, especially when you tried to make me your next meal." Snarldile snarled in a bitter tone.

Calliester kept fighting until she heard the sound of loud tapping. She spun around just in time to she Shadowarachnia darting toward her; the red femme tried to quickly summon her blaster but unfortunately the spider managed to shoot webbing, knocking and pinning her to the ground with a yelp.  
Yoshilock heard her yelp and saw the large black spider land on the femme, getting ready to bite her. Acting on instincts alone, the mech quickly yelled as he charged toward her with the flames engulfing his sword. He didn't care if Shadowarachnia was a transformed Peach, at the moment he was allowing his more primal instincts to win the battle for him. He swung his sword, successfully getting the spider to back away from the femme but he wasn't fast enough to prevent her from sinking her fangs into his arm.

Yoshilock yelled in pain as the cyber-venom started flowing into his energon tubes, forcing his systems to shut down at a rapid pace.  
Shadowarachnia removed her fangs and transformed back into her bipedal form; she grinned slyly as she summoned Yoshlock's sword and made it engulfed in fire. She glanced at the mech to see him struggle to stay active but when she saw his weak state, her grin slowly transformed into a frown. She didn't know why but seeming him in that state make her spark slightly ache in pain.

The black and purple femme shook her helm, pushing away her thoughts as she turned toward Callister. She narrowed her optics as she pointed the tip of her sword at the femme's neck.

"I shall be taking my leave now but tell your human companion that my offer still stands and should you accept I will be waiting at the coordinates thirty-three kliks west of here. I will give you two breems to think about it and to show I'll keep up my side of the bargain..." she started to say before taking a pause to summon a small vile with yellow liquid inside and toss it down next to Calliester before continuing, "This is a sample of my antidote, not enough to analyze so you can make copies but enough so you can at least bring Prime out of stasis, I require him active for this agreement."

Without another word she blasted flames at Trailston, knocking him down and forcing him to lose control of the shield before she issued a retreat. Within seconds the Insecticons transformed into their alt forms and took off with Shadowarachnia hanging off one of them with her web. Her vents cycled in air as she shuttered her optics, thinking about the deal she made.

_"They better accept, for their comrades' sake."_ she thought to herself.

Calliester clenched her denta as she jerked around her chassis; she kept struggling until finally the webbing snapped, freeing her. She stuck out her glossa in disgust as she pulled off the web strands that kept constantly clinging onto her red armor and her two black tentacles before directing her attention to the vile.

Later that day Mario's vents gently cycled air as he found himself walking around in a black void. For the past few days, ever since he was attacked by Shadowarachnia, the Prime woke up to find himself in the mysterious void. He had always searched for a way out but much to his disappointment, he never could seem to find one. The red and blue mech continued walking until he heard a voice calling out for him. His blue optics immediately widened when he recognized it as Peach's voice. Without any hesitation he chased after her voice.

His engine revved loudly with determination as he continued following her calls, wondering how she managed to change back and how she stumbled into the void herself. He kept running until finally he spotted the pink femme in the distance. Happiness and relief rushed through his spark as he darted toward her, but that immediately faded away when he saw the darkness from the void had grabbed her. He reached out his servo as she screamed, trying to grab her servo to save her but unfortunately he was too late. Mario nearly froze as his grasp barley grazed the tips of her digits before she was completely consumed in the darkness.

He clenched his denta in rage, angry that he wasn't able to save her. All of the sudden he found his chassis slammed to the ground by a purple clawed servo. He grunted upon impact as he looked up seeing none other than Shadowarachnia standing over him with her helm off, exposing the face that belong to Peach and had been twisted by the Decepticons. He watched as her optics glowed brightly in delight as she dug her talons into his chestplate and ripped it off, exposing his spark. He pleaded for her to return to her senses, to remember who she once was. But the femme only grinned, exposing her fangs before grabbing his spark and painfully ripping it out of his chest.

At that moment Mario yelled as his optics reactivated; his vents blew air constantly in an attempt to cool down his engine that was burning in panic and fear. It took him a few seconds to calm down before he realized he wasn't in the black void but rather the Medbay. The Prime groaned as he rubbed the crest of his helm, realizing what he had witnessed was a vision from the Matrix.

_"I can see your pain, but Prime you must not look at her for what she once was but rather for what she is now. Don't make the same foolish mistake I did."_ he heard Phoenix's voice echo in his processor.

He shuttered his optics for a few seconds before reactivating them and craning his helm, seeing Luigibee, Bulkmurray, Daisy, and Megahound laying on berths in stasis while Ratchet had activated the flashlight in his index digit and was examining a blue femme that had a large hole in her neck. Without a word he firmly planted his servos on the berth and began to sit up but immediately was greeted with a wave of dizziness washing over him, almost resulting in him falling back down on his berth if it weren't for him quickly steadying himself.

Having heard the slam from him steadying himself, both Blurricks and Ratchet quickly turned their helms toward his direction, surprised to see him finally awake.  
Ratchet raised his index digit in front of the blue femme's face, silent telling her he would be back before making his way over to Mario.

"Glad to see you finally come out of stasis, it seems Shadowarachnia was telling the truth about the antidote." the medic commented as he placed his servo on the red and blue mech's back to help him sit up.

Mario's optics widened the moment he heard the Decepticon femme's name; his memories instantly rushed back to recalling the pink femme with her sweet smile before they shifted to see her hissing with her optics burning with malice and hatred. He couldn't wrap his mind around how the femme he had come to love and hold dear was the very same femme that taunted him with her devilish smirk as she sunk her talons into his chestplates, willing to extinguish his spark with no regrets.

"What do you mean by that?" the Prime asked out of curiosity about the antidote.

"Well you see..." Ratchet started explained before walking back over to Blurricks and picking up one of his tools to preform repairs before continuing, "According to Ness who thought it was a bright idea to sneak on the field mission in order to gather samples, Shadowarachnia informed him of a deal. She is willing to offer antidotes that I can use and replicate to help the Autobots still stuck in stasis thanks to her cyber-venom, but what she wants in return is for you to be handed over to her most likely so she could hand you to Bowsertron. She gave Callister a sample of the antidote to prove she would hold up her end of the bargain, not enough to duplicate it but enough to bring you out of stasis."

Mario was speechless when he heard the explanation; it puzzled him why the femme had asked for him to be pacifically handed over to her rather than Bowsertron. Despite the medic's assumption that she would simple deliver him to the Decepticon Leader later, he believed that not to be the case since she would had commanded them to give him to Bowsertron rather than her. That was when he realized how after she injected her cyber-venom into him, the mech was left defenseless before her. He glanced down, seeing no signs of repairs except for the wounds he knew he received during the battle with her.

Deciding to get an answer, he asked "Ratchet, tell me, after Shadowarchnia attacked me, what did she do?"

The medic paused in his actions, glancing at his leader with a raised optic ridge before answering "According to Ness and Paula, she stood over you with your axe raised high, intending to strike. But then she froze before picking up her helm and left."

The Prime couldn't help but flinch as his spark began pulsing faster with anticipation. With his mind set he got off the berth and made his way into the command room. Once there he was greeted with the sight of Ironlink talking to Wheelegad while Espiowl was scolding the two children for sneaking on a dangerous mission.

"We got to get those antidotes from her. No way she'll keep up her end, she's a con after all." Ironlink stated bitterly with his arms firmly crossed.

"But Con or not, she's still Peach-One. It's just..." Wheelegad countered.

Unfortunately he found himself interrupted when the red mech snapped "She is not Peach-One, there's nothing left of the brave femme commander we knew. That eight-legged freak attacked the ones she once called friends, attempted to harm a human, and shows no regret for it. And now she wants to deliver Mario into Bowsertron's waiting servos and provide the Decepticons victory, dooming the Earth. The Peach-One I know would have never done those things so as far as I'm concerned, Peach is offlined and that thing is nothing more than a disgrace to her memory!"

Ironlink waited for his comrade's response but much to his confusion he saw the mech was staring at something behind him. He immediately turned around and almost jumped in surprise when he saw Mario standing behind him, staring at him with a stern yet understanding expression.

Deciding to ignore the mech's comments about Shadowarachnia, Mario spoke up "So Ratchet informed me of the deal offered to us. Well I came here to tell you that I've decided to accept it."

All the Autobots in the room fell silent upon this revelation, even Espiowl stopped his lecture to stare with his mouth hanging open in shock.

"Mario, you can't give yourself up to her! I'll never forgive myself if something happened." Ness pleaded, feeling more guilty for sneaking off in the first place, considering the whole situation to be his fault.

The Prime looked at the young boy and kneeled down before him so he could be level with him.

"I understand your fears, Ness, but this is something I must do. Not only am I doing this for the benefit of my troop but also despite her twisted transformation, I think there's still a bit of Peach left." he said in a stern tone, "I have to at least try to finally put the memory of Peach to rest. If I can successfully make her remember then there's still hope, but if not then as Ironlink said Peach would be gone and Shadowarachnia shouldn't be treated as her."

With the plan set, Mario along with Ironlink and Jazzden arrived at the destined coordinates within a few minutes, just in time to see the Decepticon femme arrive with her Insecticons. The Prime remained silent as he watched her red optics focus on him intently with her lips pursed, almost as if she was examining him in order to figure something out. It wasn't long till she summoned three viles of the antidote from her subspace and approached them, with her movement slow and cautious.

"Alright, hand Prime over now and I will give the antidotes." she said.

Mario glanced over Ironlink, nodding his helm before they both walked to her. He said nothing as the red mech accepted the antidote before making his way back over Jazzden. His blue optics glanced over at Shadowarchnia to see her chassis was stiff and her upper legs would twitch every so often, showing that she was just as suspicious of the Autobots breaking the deal just as much as they were afraid of her doing so.  
Seeing that the Autobots hadn't made any actions, the femme finally lowered her guard slightly as she commanded Kickdedede to place energy cuffs on Mario and temporarily deactivate his optics. The black and purple femme glanced at the Prime, her spark pulsing in pain slightly when she saw his blue optics stare at her. She snarled in frustration before commanding the Insecticons to leave.

Ironlink had to use all his willpower to prevent charging at the Insecticons, especially since his leader made it clear he wanted this to happen. He grinded his denta as he watched the Decepticon disappear with the willing Prime. Once they were gone, the red mech finally unleashed a frustrated grunt before shoving the viles in Jazzden's servos.

Jazzden rolled his optics before he commented "Calm down, Ironlink, Mario knows what he's doing. Besides should the plan go south he'll alert us with the secret distress beacon and we can rush in and get him out of there."

Ironlink sighed before replying in a slight bitter tone, "For the sake of the Autobots, I hope you're right."

A few minutes later, Mario reactivated his optics, surprised to discover that rather finding himself on the Decepticon ship before Bowsertron, he instead found himself in a dark cave, pinned to the wall by webbing. Before he could even figure out where he was, the mech was startled slightly when Shadowarachnia dropped down from the ceiling, hanging on her web upside down with her red optics glaring hatefully at him.

"Alright, Prime." she hissed as she lowered herself to the ground, never taking her sights off the mech for one second, "I brought you to my base for one reason only and that's to get answers."

She stood upright before leaning in close and snarling "What did you do to me that night I fought you?"

Mario tilted his helm in confusion before answering "I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. If you recall the only thing I did was punch you."

Without warning the femme grabbed him by the neck and harshly slammed him against the wall as she snapped "Liar! Ever since that encounter, I've been seeing visions of a pink femme. Over time the number of visions has grew and grew and no matter how many times I force them away, they always return. I didn't start seeing this visions until my encounter with you so logically you had to have done something to my processor without my knowledge!"

Mario's optics widened slightly upon hearing this; he knew those visions in truth were Peach's old memories trying to resurface. He did his best to prevent himself from smiling in relief at the fact he was correct that deep down the femme still remembered who she once was, the femme he loved was still alive.

Hoping to trigger more of her memories, he replied in a calm and stern tone "Those aren't visions. They're your old memories, the memories of your past life, Peach."

Shadowarachnia hissed in anger as her talons slightly tightened around the mech's neck, infuriated that he had addressed her by the name she had grown to despise.

"I'm getting tired of you Autobots calling me that to the point I liked it better when that brat called me Spidey. Why is it you keep thinking I'm a femme named Peach?" she said as her optics narrowed.

The Prime hissed in pain slightly when he felt the femme's talons dig slightly into his neck cables before replying "Because that's who you once were. Peach, I don't know what Ganonwave did to you when you were captured but I know your processor is fighting to remember. You could have easily offlined me that night, but instead you spared me, I know you remember who you once were."

Shadowarachnia's denta clenched tightly as she found her patience wearing thin. She hated how the Prime before kept insisting she was a different femme. But before she could object to his accusations, her chassis froze when she realized that she truly had no memories of before she awoke to see Ganonwave. Without warning her spark pulsed in pain, prompting her to let out a small shriek and her servos clasped around her helm. The femme fell to her knee-joints as she tossed off her helm, exposing her true face once more.

Her optics were shuttered as she kept constantly trying to banish the constant images of the smiling pink femme charging into battle with her fellow Autobots. Shadowarachnia's vents cycled in air as she slowly reactivated her optics and found herself staring at spilt energon left over from the Insecticon's feeding. It was then she realized how she never truly looked at herself without her helm, always having hid away her face to protect the vulnerable organic features around it. Without any hesitation the femme looked down and stared at her reflection.

Upon doing this her spark nearly stopped in disbelief when she found herself greeted with the image of the pink femme but with drastic changes. She could see how's the femme's pink lips were replaced by dark-red ones with deadly fangs poking out, her long metal blonde hair made short, and her kind blue optics replaced with ruthless red ones with spider-like features extruding from her audio receptors and chin. She remained silent for a few seconds before she placed back on her helm and stood back up.

Mario watched in concern, worried about what was running through the femme's mind after he witnessed her episode. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw her walk toward him with her expression unreadable, unable to give him any idea of what she was thinking. He jolted slightly as he watched her raise her talons in the air. Fearing she intended to strike like she did in his vision, he shuttered his optics and waited for the impact. The Prime heard her swipe but instead of pain, he felt the web loosen around him.

He reactivated his optics to see he had been cut free and the Decepticon was still standing before him.

"Leave now, I have no further use for you. I will not deliver you to Bowsertron since you had cooperated with me when you could have easily remained silent." Shadowarachnia stated in a stern tone.

She was about to turn her back to him until Mario grabbed ahold her arm as he began to say "Peach..."

Unfortunately he didn't get to finish because the femme jerked her arm out of his grip and hissed "Don't call me that. Memories or not, I need to straighten a few things out but that doesn't mean I'm this Peach like you claim. My name is Shadowarachnia and I know where my loyalties lie and they're certainly not with you."

The red and blue mech was unable to prevent the flash of hurt and betrayal that flashed across his face for a few seconds before he finally replied with a sigh "Alright, I understand. I will not greet you with the same willingness as I do now, the next time we meet it shall be opponents on the battlefield... Shadowrachnia."

Without another word he left the cave and transformed into his truck form. As he sped away his engine revved as he gathered up the determination to conquer his grief. He succeeded with his attempt reach to the femme in hopes she would remember but now his hope was dwindling about her, making him to start to believe that Ironlink had been right in his claim about Peach-One being dead and Shadowarachnia being nothing but a cruel reminder of this fact. But for the sake of the Autobots, the Prime knew that despite how his spark felt, he had to treat that as a fact, just like the Matrix told him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was greatly inspired by NirtoStation's fanfic "Promise." I simply loved writing this chapter.


	28. Army of Insecticons

Chapter 28

Luigibee kept rotating his arm, trying to get rid of the stiff joints. He, Daisy, and Bulkmurray had received the antidote and were able to recover from the cyber-venom induced stasis. He glanced around the Medbay, searching for any signs of Mario until he forze when he spotted none other than the blue femme that rescued Paula earlier that year.

"Hey you were that weird femme, why the heck are you here?" the yellow mech exclaimed.

Blurricks turned toward him but much to his surprise she only responded with a series of beeps that seemed to never end. Fortunately much to his relief the beeping stopped when Ratchet walked over and slammed his servo over the femme's mouth.

"Sorry about that, this here is Blurricks." the medic explained, "She was a spy sent here by Peach-One to keep an eye on the Decepticons and find out what happened to us after they lost contact with the Ark. Unfortunately while gathering information she was captured and while she was being interrogated, Skyreala ripped out her voice box. I have no spare parts to create a new voice box for her at the moment so instead I taught her to speak in through an ancient cybertronian code system that recon spies used to relay information to Autobot commanders."

"How did you know about the code?" Luigibee asked out of curiosity.

Ratchet smirked slightly as he answered "I was one of the Autobots that the spies relayed information to. Why else do you think they sent a medic to escort an informant?"

The yellow mech remained silent as he recalled how Ratchet was sent to escort Angelight by the council for reasons unknown to even Mario Prime. He frowned slightly when he remembered that was the mission that both resulted in Ratchet and Angelight being taken prisoner and were dragged to a Decepticon prison. He still wished the medic would reveal to his fellow Autobots exactly what happened behind those walls that resulted in the loss of most of Angelight's memory but he knew he wouldn't talk about it until he was ready.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Jetpit ran into the Medbay exclaiming "Mario's back!"

Luigibee raised an optic ridge, unaware of the deal Mario made with Shadowarachnia in order to get the antidote in the first place due to still being in stasis. Without hesitation he rushed to the Command Room just in time to see his leader enter. He frowned slightly when he noticed while the Prime had a stoic expression on his face, he could see a small amount of sadness in his optics.

Mario sighed before commanding "I need anyone who is capable and willing to pull off a full assault on Shadowarachnia and her Insecticons."

Ironlink's optics glanced to the ground, knowing if Mario wasn't addressing the femme by her former name, it meant his suspicions about her being lost were truly correct.

"While I was held in her custody, I noticed that she was using a machine to build a clone army of Insecticons." the Prime continued to explain, "I can't allow her to provide such a great advantage to the Decepticons. So during the battle, capture her at all costs and while I usually advise against it, destroy as many Insecticons as you can, otherwise their numbers will only increase, leaving us at a dangerous disadvantage."

"What you were caught by freaky spider lady, don't tell me this all happened while I was knocked out." Daisy grumbled with her arms crossed.

Mario flinched slightly at the technorganic's nickname for the femme before quickly reminding himself that he couldn't treat Shadowarachnia as Peach. He opened his mouth to reply only to have Ironlink step in and explain how they managed to get the antidotes in the first place. He wasn't surprised when he saw the look of shock form on the young woman's face but he was thankful that the red mech has chosen to conveniently leave out the detail about how the Decepticon in reality was a transformed Peach-One, considering it better not to reveal that fact due to the femme turning away her former identity.

Without another word he finally dismissed the Autobots, urging the ones that wished to accompany him on the mission to gather all the supplies that they recovered. He was about to head to his office until he noticed Luigibee staring at him with a frown.

"Mario, is there something else you want to tell us about Shadowarachnia?" the yellow mech asked.

The Prime clenched his servos slightly before answering "No, there isn't. All you need to know is to capture her and be wary of her stingers, the last thing we need is for you to fall into stasis again."

And with that said he left the room, leaving the young mech to sigh in disappointment at the fact he could tell his leader was hiding something.

Back at Decepticon's base, Bowsertron snarled in annoyance as he made his way to the Medbay. While he was annoyed that his troop failed to capture the two Autobots that rescued their prisoner, he was more infurated at the discovery at Shadowarachnia's secret army. The gray mech sneered at the memory of her try to use her charms as she claimed that she was completely loyal to him. He knew she hadn't shown any signs of betrayal, especially when Ganonwave claimed that she would prove to be a valuable asset. But the Decepticon Leader didn't want to take any chances as he finally entered the Medbay.

Knockster lifted his helm up, pulling his attention away from some scans he was looking over before commenting "Lord Bowsertron, I wasn't expecting you to drop in."

"I wouldn't come here unless it's absolutely necessary." Bowsertron stated as he summoned a small chip from subspace, "I require you to install this chip into my processor."

The red mech took the chip from the gray mech and examined it before asking "Might I ask what this chip is for?"

"It contains the Insecticons' command frequencies that were gathered by Vectorwave. I want the chip installed so I can rip the command away from Shadowarachnia, I'm currently wary of her and her control over the Insecticons could transform into a deadly weapon to be used against me." the Decepticon Leader answered.

Knockster nodded his helm before gesturing over to the medical berth. He waited until the gray mech laid upon it before summoning his stasis shot gun from subspace. But right about as he was going to inject in his arm, Bowsertron stopped him, stating he wished to be online during the process to prevent any surprises and that he could handle the pain since he endured much worse during his gladiator days. The medic rolled his yellow and brown optics before putting down the stasis shot gun and removing his leader's helm, exposing his processor. Without another word he grabbed one of his tools and got to work, trying to prevent a chuckle when he heard a pained hiss emit from his leader's mouth.

In the command room, Thundernights rubbed the crest of her helm with an annoyed sigh as she watched Wartscream yell at Skyreala.

"You idiot, because of your idiotic actions, we lost our prisoner!" the red and gray mech snapped.

"Me?! All I did was rip out her voice box so we could finally be spared from the madness at the fact she never shuts up! You would have done the same thing! Heck even Thundernights was at the point that she wanted to offline her." Skyreala snapped back.

The blue femme released another sigh before stating "I hate to admit this but I'm siding with Skyreala on this one, he all did us a favor by silencing her. Besides Vectorwave didn't really require her to speak in order to extract information from her processor. But I will say he could have at least waited till after Vectorwave was done interrogating her since the shock from energon loss and the wound did cause her to collapse."

The black and purple mech snorted in response, partially surprised that the seeker that despised him managed to side with him for once and at the fact that once again someone was scolding him for his timing.  
But before anyone could say anything else, they were silenced by the sound of grunts of pain. They were all shocked as they stared at the closed door of the Medbay as they heard the sounds of sparks and a drill.

"That sounded like Bowsertron." Thundernights commented in almost in a whisper.

"Maybe, Knockster, had finally gain enough sense that I'm the true leader and is trying to offline Bowsertron for me." Wartscream stated with a smug smile.

Upon hearing this, Skyreala immediately slapped his servo against the crest of his helm and replied in a grumble "No one thinks you're the true leader you scrapper. Obviously Bowsertron is having Knockster install something for him, why he didn't have himself put into stasis is pretty obvious when he's stuck with you for a second in command and you have multiple times tried to overthrow him."

The red and gray mech glared at his fellow seeker with his wings twitching in frustration and anger. He couldn't understand how despite Thundernights and Skyreala despising each other, they some how could both agree on the fact they both despised him and would often would take each other's sides if it meant not siding with him. Befor ethey could discuss the matter even further, their attention was directed toward Vectorwave who entered the command room.

"Get ready, Lord Bowsertron wants us to accompany Shadowarachnia and her Insecticons on an attack on the Power Plant sixty-five kliks west of our base. Ganonwave is running low on energon due to his experiments and the frequent attacks on the Autobot base that has yet to crumble." the blue mech explained.

"Heh, funny how we got these around the time he's having Knockster install something in him, my guess he doesn't really trust Shadowarachnia with the fact she lurks in her own cave with her own personal army." Skyreala commented, still bitter about the time when the femme demonstrated the use of her cyber-venom on him.

"It doesn't matter our leader's intentions, just be ready to leave." Vectorwave replied in an angry tone, especially since he was adressessing the mech that interrupted his interrogation with Blurricks.

Without another word he left the command room, leaving the three seekers to stare at each other silently.

Back at the Autobot base, Descole inhaled deeply as he sat outside of the Ark on a rock while mindlessly running his fingers through his air. He couldn't help but think about how he had unintentionally put Ness in danger by convincing him to draw to gather a sample of Shadowarachnia's venom. While in the end the Autobots did manage to get the antidote they need, it still almost cost them their leader. The brown-headed remained silent until he heard the sound of loud footsteps approaching him. He lifted up his head to see Ironlink leaving the Ark and leaning his back against the Ark.

"I'm surprised you're not back in the Ark giving out orders like you have been doing for the past few days." Descole commented.

"Eh that was only while Mario was in stasis. Now that he's fully recovered he has taken over that duty." Ironlink replied.

The red mech didn't say a word as his blue optics glanced down at the human. Thanks to Ness and Paula he had found out how Descole was the mastermind behind the plan that got Ness caught by Shadowarachnia in the first place. He found it strange how the man didn't even take in the consideration of how dangerous the plan was. From watching Dr. Andonuts reactions to Jeff and Daisy, he had assumed that adult humans were very concerned about the safety of children.

Deciding to get answers, he asked "Descole, why did you send Ness on that mission? I understand you simply wanted to aid the Autobots, but surely you knew the dangers of sending a child."

The brown-headed man remained silent for a few moments before finally answering "I suppose I misjudged the situation by thinking of my own experiences."

The red mech was confused until Descole continued to explain "At a young age I had to look out for myself with the loss of my parents and rejecting adoption in order to provide my little brother a better life. During that time I had to face many dangers from a criminal organization that hunted me for years. I witnessed many tragedies but in the end I forced myself through every single one with only one drive and that was revenge."

Ironlink was slightly surprised both by the man's confession and at the fact the story had reminded him of the many battles back on Cybertron. He knew just like the human he had witnessed many tragedies and forced through every single one of them in the hopes that one day the Autobots would overcome and defeat the Decepticons one and for all.

Upon realizing this he let out a small chuckle before saying "Don't I know it pal."

Descole glanced up at the mech once more, raising a brow as he asked "You act like you are familiar with the experience. Exactly how much devastation has this war caused?"

Ironlink's servos tightened slightly as he answered "Too much to even keep count anymore. While I don't doubt that you suffered from the sounds of your story, I know for certain that suffering can't compare to the suffering this war brought. We have been fighting for hundreds of vorns to the point our planet is dying. Even if we win, I'm not sure how Cybertron will recover, but despite that I won't stop fighting until the Decepticons are defeated for good or till the orn that my spark ceases pulsing."

The brown-headed man hummed in response as he glanced down at the ground and slightly muttered "It seems I was wrong about you, Ironlink. We aren't so different after all."

The two were snapped out of their thoughts by the Ark door sliding open to reveal Mario, Jazzden, Espiowl, and Trailston.

"Mastertran-1 has picked up reports of a power plant under attack." Mario stated in a stern tone, "I have no doubt that it's Shadowarachnia's Insecticons. We need to deal with them before the human authorities arrive on the scene. Ironlink, I'm going to need you to accompany us to take down any Decepticons that appear on the scene. The Dinobots will be there too but I fear their attention will be preoccupied with the Insecticons."

Ironlink nodded his helm in understanding before he and the four other Autobots transformed into their vehicle forms and took off.  
Descole didn't a single word as he watched the Autobot troop leave; he only silently wished them luck with the knowledge that Ironlink was fighting with war with as much ambition as he did in the past when it came to the Azran Legacy.

It didn't take long for Mario and his troop to reach the power plant and be greeted with the sight of hundreds of Insecticons breaking into the tanks, eating away at the metal to create huge holes so the Decepticons could gather the energy to create energon. Wasting no time, the Autobots quickly changed into their bipedal forms and began firing at the Decepticons.  
Seeing they were being fired at Vectorwave quickly dove for cover and summoned Huntage, Laserduck, and Marible.

"Try to hold them off until we gathered enough energon!" he commanded.

"Just leave it to us, Vectorwave." Marible said as she saluted him with her index and middle digits pressed together more dashing off with her comrades.

Mario's engine revved as he dodged the enemy fire; while apart of him was making sure not to get, another part of him was searching for a certain Decepticon femme. His blue optics scanned the battlefield until he saw web latch onto a wall and break off a large piece, sending it flying toward him. Fortunately the Prime managed to quickly jump out of the way and look up to see the purple and black femme standing on a tank, glaring at him hatefully with her red optics narrowed.

Meanwhile with the other Autobots, the groundbridge portal opened up to reveal the Dinobots who had finally arrived to the battle.

"Hey they started fighting without us." Snarldile stated with a disappointed frown.

"Who cares, let's just take care of those Insecticons freaks! Mario isn't going to hold us back this time!" Swoopdo replied before she transformed into her dino form and took to the air, blasting fire at the Insecticon clones.

"I've been dying to hear those words." Yoshilock smirked.

Without hesistation he quickly changed into his T-Rex form and charged toward the Insecticon clones, snatching a few up into his jaws and crushing them. The rest of the Dinobots grew excited at the sight before changing into their dino forms as well, loving the fact they were finally allowed to unleash their full wrath on the ones responsible for their imprisonment and torture for millions of years.

Back with Mario, he clenched his denta as he managed to dodge each of Shadowarachnia's angry stabs, trying to avoid get injected with cyber-venom. Only one thought kept running through his processor and that was to capture the Decepticon femme before him. He summoned his axe and quickly used it as a makeshift shield to block her spider legs, refusing to use his ion blaster all due to the fact he remembered who she once was and it still pained him to fire at her. As he battle the Prime could see angry burning in the technorganic's optics as her attacks became faster and less precise.

"You are the last mech I want to see on this battlefield!" she snarled as she swiped her talons, successfully managing to land a blow on the mech's arm.

Mario hissed in pain as he covered his wound with his servo before replying "I told you I would treat you as an opponent. I understand that you're Shadowarachnia, not Peach."

"That isn't the problem!" Shadowarachnia snapped as she kick him in the chestplates, knocking him against the wall.

The red and blue mech's optics widened when he saw the femme charg toward him and thinking fast he managed to grab ahold of the upper spider legs and force them back while demanding "Then what is!"

The femme snarled, exposing her fangs and she tried to force down her spider legs and stab the Autobot Leader in his neck as she replied "I didn't want to see you because your appearance confuses me. I can't think straight with you and now with the revelation I might be some other femme called Peach-One, I don't who to trust. Your encounter has only shown me one thing, that there is only one person I can be loyal to and that's me!"

Unfortunately before Mario could reply, his blue optics glanced behind the femme and he gasped. Thinking fast he managed to force her spider legs away and firmly wrap his arms around her midriff and manage to tackle her out of the way just in time before explosion went off. The two cybertronians groaned as they looked up to see Bowsertron standing before them.

"Well if this isn't like old times." the grey mech smirked, "I knew there was something familiar about you the moment I first met you, Shadowarachnia... or should I say Peach-One?"

Shadowarachnia snarled as she slightly shoved Mario away from her before demanding "Don't call me by that name, especially since you tried to offline me moments ago!"

The Decepticon Leader narrowed his optics as he stated "I heard your little chat with Prime, proving to me that you aren't as loyal as you claim. While I had often knew you would be a valuable ally, it seems not even when you have that symbol upon your neck your loyal. So you leave me with little choice, until you change your ways and obey my every command, I have no choice but to offline you."

"I wouldn't count on that." the black and purple femme said with a smug grin before she sent out a command to the Insecticons to protect her.

But much to her horror, instead of the Insecticons standing behind her, awaiting her command, they stood behind Bowsertron while staring at her. Her red optics widened slightly in fear, realizing she no longer had any control over the Insecticons and Bowsertron had made it where they now obeyed him. Many panicked thoughts ran through her mind, unsure what she should do with her greatest advantage gone. But much to her surprise and some of her anger, Mario stood firmly in front of her with his axe raised, ready to attack.

"If you want to get to her, you'll have to get through me!" the Prime stated in a stern tone.

Bowsertron remained silent for a few moments before finally muttering "Heh, it really is like old times."

Without another word he commanded the Insecticons to attack.


	29. Unlikely Allies

Chapter 29

Acting fast Mario quickly swung his axe and knocked away two of the Insecticon clones. He glanced toward Shadowarachnia to see her firing her webbing at a few Insecticons and pinning them on the floor. Taking advantage of her fallen opponents she quickly stabbed her upper spider legs into the Sharpkirby clone's helm, killing it upon impact and gaining its abilities. Electricity surged off of her servos as she blasted a few more Insecticons, leaving their chassis in a crumbled, smoking heap.

"You know these Insecticon clones are going down fairly easily." Mario commented as he took down two Kickdedede clones with one swipe of his axe.

Shadowarachnia grunted as she blasted a couple of more Insecticons before responding "I designed them with numbers in mind, not strength. It takes a lot of energy alone just to preform the cloning process so I didn't want to waste almost all of my energon supply just to make strong clones. But note this, Prime, even if the clones are weak, Bowsertron still has the upper-hand since the clones can make up for what they lack in strength in numbers."

Mario nodded his helm in understanding before immediately raising his guard once again and managing to use his axe to block the energy blasts fired at him by the Metashell clones.  
Meanwhile Jazzden and Ironlink had taken cover behind Trailston's shield that was constantly being fired upon by Marible, Laserduck, and Huntage.

As he loaded his gun, Jazzden commented "You know, we already know that the Decepticons messed with Pe... er Shadowarachnia's processor. So I guess it's a safe guess they did a bit of scrambling with Marible's after they captured her."

"Most likely and as much as I know Callister is going to strangle me for doing this, we can't worry about her. Our main priority is defeating the Insecticon clones and taking Shadowarachnia into custody. Marible is a minor threat that we can always deal with later."

The white mech was about to open his mouth to reply until Trailston immediately snapped in anger at the two mechs, pointing out how his forcefield wouldn't be able to withstand the constant fire much longer. Nodding his helm in understanding, Jazzden loaded the last bit of ammo into his gun before finally tumbling out from behind the forcefeild. His one working optic glanced up at Laserduck who had just then directed his sights toward him. With his denta clenched he fired at the robotic duck while running as fast as his pedes could carry him.

Ironlink readied his blaster as he watched this scene unfold before him. He was fixing to charge toward his companion until from the corner of his optics he managed to spot Marible change her arms into her signature pile drivers, just in time. Already knowing what was the Decepticon was scheming, the red mech wasted no time darting toward Marible and tackling her just as she activated her pile drivers.  
The purple femme yelped in both surprise and pain as her chassis smashed against the ground, unaware that the pile driver she activated punched a large hole into an oil tank, prompting large amounts of oil to spill out onto the ground.

"You scrap heap, you're gonna pay for that!" Marible hissed in rage as she smashed one her pile drivers against Ironlink's face.

The force of the impact resulted in the red mech's chassis to be sent flying the the air before sliding with a loud screech right up next to Jazzden who had just taken shelter behind a destroyed tank.  
The white mech rolled his working blue optic as he grabbed his comrade by the shoulder and pulled him to the safety of his cover.

"You look in a pretty good state for someone that basically just took a sledge hammer to the face." Jazzden commented as he fired his blaster, smirking in victory when he successfully shot down Laserduck.

"They don't call me Ironlink for nothing you know," the red mech replied as he wiped away the energon constantly leaking from his olfactory sensors and his mouth, being careful not to accidentally further damage himself, "besides, Zel hits way harder than that and that's when she's in a good mood."

Upon hearing this Jazzden raised his optic ridges in surprise as he stared speechlessly at his Autobot comrade, unable to come up with a response.

Back with the Dinobots, Yoshilock unleashed a primal roar as he constantly destroyed Insecticon clones in his T-Rex form. His optics glowed, brightly red as he snatched a Kickdedede clone into his jaws and bit down hard, easily crushing the clone and resulting in its energon to splatter on the ground. But while attacking the clones was thrilling to him and the other Dinobots, it did not satisfy their primal rage. He turned his helm just in time to see both Swoopdo and Snarldile finish off their own Insecticon clones.

"Argh, it's just not the same!" Snarldile grunted in anger.

"I know, Snarldile, I think we all feel the same way," Swoopdo sighed as she noticed Klag and Pledge approach as well, "it was fulfilling at first but it just feels like there's something missing."

All the Dinobots remained silent until finally Klag spoke up "Maybe it's because we know these ain't the real Ridleycron Spawns that were slaughtering. It'll only mean something if we can get payback on the real thing."

Yoshilock did not say a word but instead snarled. He knew instantly that Klag was right with his assumption. The idea of destroying the clones was appealing at first because it was like they were finally getting payback on the ones that took so much joy in torturing them and acting like they were superior to them. But the appeal had worn away when they all began to realize that no matter how many clones they destroyed, the original Insecticons would still be unharmed and all the rage and destruction would have gone to waste.

"Okay we all know when you don't talk it isn't a good sign." Swoopdo commented with her optics narrowed, "Admit it, Yoshilock, you know we're wasting our time blasting these copies."

"Hey, I'm the one in charge here!" Yoshilock snapped angrily at his comrade before taking a few moments of silence and replying with a grumble, "But yes, destroying copies isn't exactly getting payback."

Pledge snorted in frustration which prompted her to flick her tail angrily. But because she did this she failed to notice that she unintentionally whacked a Kickdedede clone that tried to attack her from behind multiple times across the face, resulting in it crashing to the ground with the last flick of her tail.  
Snarldile rapidly tapped his pes on the ground; he knew it was important to find the true Insections, but he wasn't sure how to tell the difference between the originals and the clones. He continued thinking until finally the answer struck him.

"Yoshilock, the clones don't talk!" the mech exclaimed, "If we want to find those freaks all we need to do is find the ones stupid enough to open their mouths!"

The Dinobot leader's optics widened in surprise at this realization. Wasting no time he commanded the rest of his troop to spread out and seek out the Insecticons as quickly as possible. Within seconds he and his rest of his troop transformed into their dino forms, all of them unleashing primal roars of rage as they charged through the crowds of the Insecticon clones, seeing no reason why they couldn't destroy them along their path.

Meanwhile, Shadowarachnia clenched her denta tightly in frustration Mario managed to successfully pull her behind the corner of a wall just in time to dodge the blast from Bowsertron's fusion canon. Her red optics narrowed as she watched the Prime immediately jump back up on his pedes and fire at a couple of Insecticon clones that tried to sneak up on them by climbing down the walls toward them. She couldn't understand why the mech continued to lend his help to her in the battle, especially after she crushed any hope of her joining the Autobots. The femme wondered if the reason was connected to the mysterious memory logs that belonged to her supposed previous identity. But she didn't get to think about it long when a blast of lightning barely missed her helm, snapping her out of her thoughts with a startled gasp.

"Shadowarachnia, be more aware of your surroundings!" Mario shouted both as a warning and out of worry.

The technorganic snarled in reply "Worry more about yourself, Prime! Just cause we're temporarily working together doesn't mean I'm taking orders from you!"

Not wanting to give the mech a chance to object, Shadowarchnia latched herself onto the wall and scanned the battleground. As much she hated to admit it, she wasn't sure how much longer the Autobot leader and her would last against the Insecticon clones. She knew if the Autobots stood a chance of winning, commands had to temporarily shut down which meant that someone needed to distract Bowsertron to prevent him from sending out more commands to the clones. With her mind set, she jumped back down next to Mario.

"Alright here's my plan, you keep Bowsertron distracted long enough so I can inject him with my cyber venom. With him in stasis, the clones will cease to function without the commands." she stated.

"Shadowarachnia, that's insane! You do realize what Bowsertron is capable of and if you get injured I'm not sure if we would be able to treat your organic half." Mario replied in a stern tone as he held back a couple of punches from a Kickdedede clone.

The femme hissed in frustration as she stabbed one of her upper legs completely through an Insecticon and replied "May I remind you that our alliance will end once we get out of this situation. I will not let any of you Autobots near me. Second of all you should be grateful I even told you the plan, I could have went after Bowsertron alone but I decided to go with the wiser option."

The red and blue mech couldn't help but raise an optic ridge as he watched the Decepticon changed into her spider form and take off. He noticed that in her words, Shadowarachnia exhibited the same determination and stubbornness she did as Peach. After his encounter in the cave, he had come to accept that her old identity was possibly long gone. But after witnessing her attitude and her lack to kill him, it made him wonder if Shadowarachnia and Peach-One were really as different as he originally thought. The Prime shook his helm with a grunt, deciding to push aside his curious, hopeful thoughts. His blue optics narrowed as he quickly charged through the crowd of Insecticons as best as he could to seek out the leader of the Decepticons.

The Dinobots continued smashing their way through constant waves of Insecticon clones, seeking out the genuine article. Yoshilock's blue optics kept constantly glancing around the battlefield, searching for any Insecticons that were speaking. He was focused on his task until the sound of electricity reached his audio receptors. His optics widened as he immediately skidded to a stop; fortunately he managed to barely dodge the source of the sound which was none other than a lightning blast. The Dinobot leader snarled as he heard the sound of an angry growl. Knowing what that meant, Yoshilock, turned his helm to the right to see none other than the real Insecticons.

"Darn it, poyo! I almost had him, poyo!" Sharpkirby yelled with a pout.

"I suppose after hundreds of vorns torturing him, he learned to recognize the sound of your lightning blasts." Metashell commented, "Remember that he hasn't forgotten anything during that time period unlike his comrades."

Yoshilock snarled as his optics glowed, brightly red. Without warning he lunged at the Insecticon trio, snapping his jaws, forcing the three mechs to quickly jerk backwards to narrowly avoid being snatched up in the robotic T-Rex's razor, sharp teeth.  
The rest of the Dinobots growled in anger with their optics glowing red as well as they watched the Insecticons laugh as they flew around the gray robotic dinosaur that constantly snapped his jaws in an attempt to catch one of them. It infuriated them that the beings that took enjoyment in torturing them for so long was now mocking their leader. Not even needing a command, the rest of the Dinobots charge forward, unleashing their primal roars.

Kickdedede yelped as he felt the spike from Snarldile's tail graze his black and purple pede before flying higher.

"They're ganging up on us and we just can't keep flying around, that freak with the wings can pursue us. We need to split them up! I'll take on three-horns and the long-necked idiot!" the mech stated.

"I agree, so I'll take on the flyer and her cerebo-shell crushing friend. It'll be the perfect opportunity to get payback for the battle in the city." Metashell replied.

Without another word the two Insecticons took off, putting their plan in action, leaving behind Sharpkriby who was pouting at the fact he realized his comrades had left him stuck with Yoshilock.  
Kickdedede laughed in delight as he summoned a giant hammer from subspace and smashed it on the ground, creating a shockwave that knocked Pledge and Klag away from the rest of the group.  
Metashell narrowed his yellow optics as he fired bombs which managed to successfully hit Swoopdo and Snarldile, resulting in the two Dinobots to roar in rage before chasing after him.  
Seeing their plan succeeded, Sharpkirby couldn't help but release a mischievous giggle before turning his attention to the remaining Dinobot.

"Looks like it's just you and me, poyo!" the black and purple mech commented with a grin before firing his lightning blast.

Back with Bowsertron, the gray mech's red optics carefully scanned the battlefield, searching for any sign of either Mario of Shadowarachnia lurking around. He was focused on his task until he heard the sound of jets landing behind him. Already knowing who it was, the Decepticon Leader turned around to be greeted with the sight of Wartscream and his seeker comrades.

"We collected all the energon we need from this area, do you want us to retreat, Lord Bowsertron?" Thundernights stated.

The gray mech shook his helm in reply before responded "No, while normally that would be the case, we still have the situation with Shadowarachnia. I need you three to capture her so that we may remind her exactly where her loyalties lie."

"Ha, I knew that organic femme freak would be a traitor!" both Wartscream and Skyreala exclaimed in unison, prompting the two mechs to turn their helms toward each other and stare with horrified expressions at the fact they both shared the same thought.

Thundernights stared at the scene for a few moments before slapping her servo against the crest of her helm and shaking it with a sigh, finding hard to believe that out of all the things she tried to make Skyreala horrified or disgusted at in order to create guilt, those things somehow didn't match up to the terror the mech felt at the fact that for once he agreed with the most annoying Decepticon he knew.  
Bosertron couldn't prevent himself from rolling his red optics in annoyance before shouting at his troop for attention, resulting in the three seekers to straighten up.

"Stop talking and go find Shadowarachnia! NOW!" the Decepticon leader commanded, his voice bellowing with his last word.

Too frightened to speak from their leader's voice, the three seekers instantly activated the thrusters in their pedes and wings before taking to the sky. The gray mech unleashed a loud blast of air from his cooling vents before directing his attention back to the battle. But much to his anger, due to being distracted by yelling at Wartscream, Skyreala, and Thundernights, he failed to notice in time Mario charging at him at top speeds and slam into him with his truck form. He grinded his sharp denta together as he quickly changed into his tank form, managing to use his treads to stop the red semi truck in its tracks before using the canon to fire.

The blast knocked Mario back as he tumbled on the ground, transitioning from his semi truck form back to his bipedal form. He grunted in pain as he shook his helm only to see a gray tank charging toward him at top speeds. Thinking fast, the mech jumped up, managing to successfully flip over the tank. Before he landed on the ground, Mario aimed and fired his ion blaster at his target.  
Bowsertron yelled in rage as the blast knocked him out of his tank form. His red optics glowed with fury and air blasted out of his noseplates as he changed his servo into his chain-mace.

"No matter what I do, you always show up to interfere, Prime." Bowerstron stated in a venomous tone, "If you had let me win this war, Peach wouldn't have to be in the state she is in now."

Mario narrowed his optics as he changed his servo into ax. Much to the Decepticon Leader's surprise, the red mech uncharacteristically made the first attack, yelling in rage as he charged forward with his ax ready to strike.

As the leaders' battle raged on, Shadowarachnia was preforming her part of the plan. She silently crept along the walls in her spider form, making sure that there was no attention drawn to her. Her red optics glanced at the two mechs battling, searching for an opening to strike. But as she did this, she couldn't help but let her thoughts wander on the subject of the name that caused confusion for her. The femme noticed easily how much Bowsertron's last words before the Prime charged wounded him and it all surrounded her supposed former identity. While Shadowarachnia knew that the other Autobots had shown a form of care for the mysterious Peach, by observation alone she could tell that Mario's feelings went much farther than the others.

But what confused her the most wasn't concerning the mech's feelings but rather hers. The moment she saw the flash of sadness and anger on the mech's face, much to her confusion, she experienced a pang of sadness and regret deep within her spark. Shadowarachnia grunted in frustration, unsure what to make of her feelings, deciding to instead focus on current objective. Her red optics narrowed when she saw Bowsertron had backed up where now he was positioned directly below the spot she was perched. Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, the spider wasted no time lunging herself off the wall and sending herself flying toward the gray mech.

The femme was centimeters from sinking her fangs into the Decepticon Leader's back. But much to her shock, within a split second Bowsertron managed to spin around and snag her neck in one of his clawed servo. She hissed in anger as she began squirming around, only for Bowsertron to tighten his grip around her neck.

"Oh please, you thought I would fall for a sneak attack in the middle of a battle? That's tactics youngling's play when you face off against other gladiators." the gray mech deadpanned.

"You might consider revising that statement!" Mario shouted.

Bowsertron quickly turned toward the sound of the voice only to be greeted with a blue servo punching him square in the jaw. The force of the impact resulted in him crashing on his back and releasing Shadowarachnia from his grip.  
The femme changed back into her bipedal form as she tumbled on the ground. She hissed both out of frustration and discomfort whilst she used the spider legs attached to her back to push herself upright. Much to her annoyance, she saw Mario give her a glance to make sure she was alright before charging toward Bowsertron who was starting to get up as well.

"Honestly, he keeps concerning over my safety. I thought I made it perfectly clear to him that I'm not Peach-One." Shadowarachnia hissed to herself.

But no matter how much she claimed it to herself, the technorganic dug her clawed digits into the palm of her servos upon sensing a pang of sadness and disbelief in her spark.  
Bowsertron's red optics flared in rage as his servo snatched onto Mario's fist, preventing him from delivering another punch. Air blasted out of his vents as he dug his pedes into the ground and forced his opponent into a struggle. The gray mech couldn't help but smirk slightly as he watched the Prime before him summon all the strength within him to prevent being shoved down. While he knew the Autobot Leader was a formidable opponent, when it came to the strength department the Prime was unable to match up with his experience gained from gladiator battles. Feeling more confident, Bowsertron used more of his strength, his dark grin growing wider as he watched the red mech almost lose his footing from this action.

"Face it, Prime, you might as well surrender. We both know that this is a struggle that you can't win." he taunted.

Mario grunted as he pushed forward with all his might before replying "Like I said, you should consider revising your earlier statement."

The gray mech raised an optic ridge, wondering what the Prime was referring to. Unfortunately for him, the answer to his question struck his processor a second too late. Without warning Shadowarchnia landed on his shoulders while being mindful of his metal, spiked shell. He roared in rage as he quickly let go of his opponent to quickly grab the femme's arm and throw her off his back. But he wasn't fast enough to prevent the technorganic from successfully stabbing her spider legs into the back of his neck. Bowsertron yelled as the cyber venom entered his systems and electricity coursed throughout his chassis. Before he managed to lose consciousness, the gray mech blindly grabbed at Shadowarachnia and threw her at full force.

The black and purple femme cried out as her chassis smashed against the wall. She didn't make a sound as her optics shuttered and she collapsed limp on the ground.  
Mario's optics widened before he quickly ran over to the fallen femme, ignoring the many Insecticon clones that started smashing to the ground around him due to the loss of their command input. Being as careful as possible, the mech kneeled down and pushed the technorganic into sitting position. Part of him wanted to make sure she was alright out of duty while the other part was connected to the feelings that dwelled in his spark, believing in the small hope that Peach can return. When he lifted her up, his blue optics immediately took notice of the bright green energon that started dripping on the ground from her back. From examination he was able to discover that Bowsertron had thrown her hard enough that the impact broke two of the four spider legs on her back.

Before he could check for anymore injuries, the sound of primal roar filled the air. He lifted his helm up to see Yoshilock in his dinoform chasing after a panicking Sharpkirby.

"Why are you able to keep up with me when I fly, poyo?!" Sharpkirby exclaimed.

Much to his displeasing, the robotic T-Rex blasted a stream of fire at him, forcing him to dodge. He huffed as his engines revved in frustration, wishing his comrades weren't busy dealing with the other Dinobots. He kept trying to escape the Dinobot, searching for anything to give him the advantage. At that moment, he managed to spot the oil that was spilt on the ground from the busted tank. A sly grin formed on his face as he immediately created a plan.

"Bet you can't hit me, Yoshilock, poyo!" Sharpkirby taunted as he flew close to the ground.

Already realizing what the Insecticon was planning, Mario shouted "Wait, Yoshilock, don't!"

But the Prime's words did not affect the Dinobot whom was blinded by his primal rage. Wasting no time, he blasted his fire at the Insecticon. Unfortunately the moment Sharkirby dodged by quickly flying upwards, the oil was ignited by the flames. Within seconds the power plant was set ablaze.  
Knowing the fire would destroy their cargo, the Decepticons quickly retreated from the battle while grabbing all the energon cubes they could carry. Wartscream was quite happy when he saw no sign of their leader until Vectorwave flew up next to him with the gray mech slung on his back.

"Oh why can't you be selfish for once, you're a Decepticon for Primus sake." Wartscream grumbled before speeding ahead.

Back on the ground, Mario hoisted up Shadowarachnia into his arms while shouting commands to his troop. Unlike the Decepticons, he refused to flee the scene since he knew the fire would be a risk to the humans who were unaware of what had conspired. Fortunately with Trailston containing the fire with his forcefield, Ironlink was able to switch his servo into his fire extinguisher and began spraying the flames. It took a few moments but thanks to the combined effort of the two Autobots, the fire was successfully put out.

"Whelp, now we don't have to worry about the fire hurting the humans. But we should get out of here before they come to investigate." Jazzden noted, "Man I would hate to be the person that's in charge of cleaning this mess up.

"Yeah, but before that we have to deal with Shadowarachnia here." Ironlink pointed out while jabbing his digit at the unconscious femme.

Mario was about to open his mouth to reply but without warning he felt a strong servo shove him back and Shadowarachnia pulled out of his arms. He shook his helm rapidly, trying to regain his senses. When his vision returned, he was stunned to see none other than Yoshilock clinging onto Shadowarachnia while the rest of the Dinobots had their weapons out, ready to fight.

"You're not taking her as a prisoner. She deserves better than that," Yoshilock snarled as he clung onto the technoragnic's chassis protectively, "She's coming back with us."

"Yoshilock, you honestly can't be s-" Ironlink began to say.

"Not another step, unless you want us to set this place ablaze again but this time on purpose." Swoopdo immediately interrupted in a threatening tone as her blue optics changed to red and she made her chain mace engulfed in fire.

The red mech took a step back, clenching his servos both out of anger and nervousness. He couldn't understand why the Dinobots refused to believe that Shadowarachnia was dangerous, especially after she nearly sent Yoshilock into stasis with her cyber venom. He turned his helm toward Mario, trying to search his face for an expression that could give insight to his thoughts on the current situation. Finally, much to his shock, Mario activated his commlink and requested Ratchet activated a Groundbridge to Dinobot Island.

"You're really letting them take her, after all that's she done?!" Ironlink snapped, not bothering to hide his anger with his leader's choice.

In an attempt to calm down his second in-command, the Prime responded "As long as she's still in the Dinobots' custody it's fine. The Dinobots will insure that she is taken of and won't cause anymore trouble for us."

Ironlink's engine revved as he folded his arms across his chestplates and clenched his denta. While he still had a strong disagreement with the Prime's choice, he relented to the decision made. He only hoped that Shadowarachnia wouldn't do anything that would make Mario and the Dinobots regret that decision.  
Without another word, Yoshilock nodded to his comrades before entering the Groundbridge, returning back to Dinobot Island.  
The moment the green light of the Groundbridge faded away, Mario finally released a loud exhale he had been unaware he was holding. He could feel his spark whirling with worry for the purple and black femme only to recall Phoenix's words to him from the Matrix.

Noticing his distress, Jazzden rested his servo on the red mech's shoulder and asked " Mario, is everything alright?"

Mario released another sigh before muttering quietly in reply "This will seem like a horrible thing for me to say but perhaps it would have been better if Peach really did die back on Cybertron. Then perhaps I wouldn't be going through as much emotional torment as I am now."

Neither Jazzden nor Ironlink spoke up to their leader's confession. Both mechs understood how the Prime was having to constantly force away his emotions toward Peach out of worry that they could blind him from Shadowarachnia's actions. But the two also found themselves speechless due to the lack of an answer. Neither of them knew whether it is better to have a loved one die or have that loved one altered and twisted almost to the point of beyond recognition with only a small chance of their former self returning. With silence filling the air, Mario and his Autobots transformed and took off with heavy thoughts filling their processors.


	30. Paranoia

Chapter 30

A few weeks had passed since the incident with the Insecticon Clones at the Power Plant. Back on Cybertron, Red Amy was lying unconscious on a medical berth, still recovering from her wounds that she gained after trying to flee from the Decepticons when she had infiltrated Ganonwave's lab. Her servos and denta clenched as her whole body stiffened in panic. Many thoughts filled her processor, worries that she was no longer deemed valuable and would be placed in a stasis pod. Finally she reactivated with a loud gasp and quickly sat up. Her engine revved in panic as she looked around the Medbay, seeing no sign of any other Autobot. Amy tried to get up from her berth until she was stopped by an aching pain in her helm.

The red and white femme groaned as she pressed her servo against the crest of her helm, unaware of her optics that flickered for a few moments before finally changing from green to red. Once the pain had subsided, Amy finally slipped off of her berth and made her way toward the exit of the Medbay. But before she could open the door, the sound of talking reached her audio receptors. Curious of who was talking, she tuned up her audio receptors and pressed her helm against the door. Within seconds she was able to recognize the voices belonging to Firerouge and Inferknuckles.

"So is her state getting any better?" the red mech designed to look like an echidna asked.

Firerouge sighed as she leaned against the wall before replying "Clank Aid has been doing everything he can for her. It's really hard to determine her state. Not to mention he hasn't had much time to treat her ever since Ganonwave started sending out Insecticons to attack the base. The attacks obviously take more priority, especially after we lost Peach to him."

Inferknuckles grumbled in frustration as he firmly crossed his arms over his chestplates. It deeply angered him that the Decepticons had turned their troop leader into a different being and that his friend was stuck in the Medbay.

"You know I don't even understand why she went to the Decepticon base alone. Honestly it was incredible stupid of her, she should have taken someone with her. She wouldn't be stuck injured in the Medbay had someone gone with her." he grumbled.

Firerouge couldn't but chuckle slightly at the mech's annoyance as she commented "Maybe you should use that fire hose of yours to cool down."

Her smug smirk grew when she saw her companion glare at her with his purple optics; she always found it amusing to get his engine revving in anger. But her smirk slowly turned into a frown when her thoughts drifted back to Amy, knowing that the mech had brought up a very good point. She couldn't understand why Amy had chosen to go alone, especially when normally the medic was the most cautious out of the troop. She recalled how none of the Autobots were able to find out the reason for the femme's hasty actions due to her falling into stasis and having no data pads nor discs in her possession.

Firerouge was awakened from her thoughts when she heard Inferknuckles ask "Do think it's possible her processor is dead? Her helm was busted pretty badly."

Upon hearing this, the femme huffed as she responded "Better hope not. A dead processor requires materials and energon for repair and replacement; but we're running low on those supplies. If Red Amy's processor is dead, she may have to be left in stasis. Well at least until Zeldia sends someone through the Spacebrigde to restock on supplies at the base on Earth."

Before either one of them could say another word, Zeldia's voice echoing from the comm speakers reached their audio receptors, informing them of their required assistance with a small group of survivors. Without another word, the two immediately dashed off.  
Once the two were gone, Amy slowly backed away from the door with a concerned frown.

"They were talking about me." she muttered to herself, "They acted like I was in some kind of terrible state when clearly I'm fine. Firerouge even mentioned leaving me in stasis, but why?"

The medic shuttered her red optics as she pressed her servos against her helm. Her thoughts of confusion and worry kept swirling in her processor, causing a large ache to course throughout her helm with a few sparks emitting from it. Suddenly her optics snapped wide open when a horrid theory entered her thoughts. Amy began to wonder if the reason she heard talks of Autobots pretending she was in a terrible state and should be kept in stasis was because she was no longer deemed worthy as an Autobot. Her vents pounded as she imagined Zeldia being disgusted with her attempt to obtain research from Ganonwave's lab, believing a true Autobot would never allow themselves to get caught and wounded so easily.

Amy could nearly picture the disgusted expressions painted on each of the Autobots' faces, considering her even worse than a Decepticon. It terrified her to think that entire faction she stood loyally by for so long would be more than happy to leave her to rot in a stasis pod for all of eternity. The more Amy let her irrational thoughts build up in processor, the more she believed those thoughts as being the truth. Finally she narrowed her optics that glowed brightly red; she intended not to allow the Autobots to do away with her. With her mind set, she opened the door and made a mad dash for the supplies room.

She unlocked the door by pressing her servo against the scan panel, pleased to see the security was still set to respond to her. Acting fast she began grabbing as many energon cubes and medical supplies she could get off the shelves. The femme was in the middle of placing the items in her subspace until she heard the sound of peds quickly approaching before abruptly stopping. Her spark nearly stopped pulsing when she spotted a shadow casting on the floor next to her, prompting her to slowly turn around and be greeted by the sight of a stunned Zeldia.

"Red Amy, you're awake?!" the blue femme exclaimed, both surprised and happy to see her comrade had recovered.

But her happiness immediately turned into confusion when she took note of the energon and medical supplies both lying at Amy's black peds and being held in her servos. She opened her mouth to ask the medic why she was taking supplies required for the war effort, but never got a word out when she saw the red and white femme quickly form a sneer on her face as her engine revved in rage.

"I will not be put back in stasis!" Amy shouted upon dropping her things and summoning a large blaster rifle from her subspace.

Zeldia barely had any time to react as she quickly threw herself to the ground, fortunately managing to duck just as the medic fired her blaster. Her optics shuttered tightly when the blast of the laser blew up the wall in the hallway, causing debris to fall scattered around her chassis with smoke filling the air. Her blue optics peered through the smoke, catching a glimpse of the Autobot gone rogue dashing down hallway. Knowing that something was wrong, the femme commander quickly stood back up before following in pursuit whilst activating her comm.

"This is an order issued to any Autobots currently not engaged in combat or any rescue missions. Red Amy has reactivated but is experiencing uncharacteristic behavior. I believe it is connected to her wound she received a deca-cycle ago. She must be subdued with little to no harm so our medic can examine her." she commanded in a stern tone with two of her digits pressed against her audio receptor as her freehand summoned her blaster from her subspace.

Zeldia kept her eyes trained on the red and white femme, intending not to let her out of her sights. Her optic-ridges furrowed together in focus as she began firing at her target. She made sure each shot was precise as to avoid delivering a fatal wound, just like she trained herself to do with Decepticons so many times.  
Amy could feel her vents constantly blowing in an attempt to cool down her burning engine as jerked to the side of the shots. Her denta was practically grinding together at the thought of the femme chasing her severely wounding her and dragging her off to rot away in a stasis pod with no medical attention. Wanting to be rid of her pursuer, Amy's optics quickly darted around the Autobot base, searching for anything to help her.

Suddenly from the corner of her vision, she saw none other than the control panel for the space bridge. A confident smirk formed on her face as her optics glowed brightly red.

 _"Just the thing I needed. A distraction and a way that won't insure Mario and his troop try to come back. I won't let any of them lock me up!"_ she thought to herself, unaware of the occasional sparks that emitted from her helm.

Without a word, Amy fired her rocket launcher that rested on her shoulder. Much to her happiness, Zeldia didn't even have a split second to react to prevent the rocket from blowing up the control panel. The destruction created a large explosion that sent out shockwaves that knocked back the two femmes in different directions. Amy couldn't prevent the yelp that escaped her mouth as her back smashed against the ground at full force. She sat up with a groan, slightly dazed due to her vision partially being blinded by static. After a few seconds, the medic's vision cleared and her bearings returned. With her mind clear, she immediately was able to notice Zeldia was still dazed as she struggled to get up.

Not wanting to give the femme commander a chance to catch her, Amy quickly transformed into her vehicle form and sped away with her tires screeching. Her spark pulsed frantically as she finally reached the outside, knowing if she could get far enough she could lose the Autobots in Decepticon territory. But her hopes of making a flawless getaway were shattered when a red and blue car sped past her, creating a large could of smoke. She tried to pass through the cloud as fast as she could only for her decision to prove to be a terrible mistake. The moment Amy entered the smoke cloud, she found herself tripped up by a strong object.

The femme shrieked whilst flying though the air, quickly changing back into her bipedal form before hitting the ground. A frustrated yell escaped her mouth as her hands frantically searched for her fallen blaster rifle. She kept searching until the sound of chuckling reached her audio receptors. Within an instant she directed her attention toward the smoke cloud, seeing it disappear to reveal a mech designed to look like a raccoon with red and blue armor.  
The mech had a devilish grin painted on his face as he leaned on his metal cane. He didn't say a word as he constantly tapped the tip of his red pes on the ground, allowing Amy to stand back up. Once the femme had gotten back upright, his grin grew as he finally got off his cane and began twirling it in his blue servo.

"You know you shouldn't have let me get back up, Slyscreen. Now I'll make you regret it." Amy bitterly remarked upon picking up her blaster rifle.

"Now come on, Red Amy, we both know that is more of Bowsertron's thing and your not clearly Bowsertron. Have you considered getting your logic circuits checked out?" Slyscreen replied.

The medic clenched her denta; she refused to fall for any of what she believed to be the Autobot's tricks. With her irrational thoughts running amuck, she only saw her comrades as enemies. Not wanting to fall to the scenario she had created in her processor, Amy started firing at Slyscreen. Her optics shook in fear as she watched the mech easily dodge each of her shots, making his way closer to her with each dodge. She could feel the joints in her chassis stiffening out of fear. Panic grew in her processor when she began to get paranoid about her systems failing on her, fearing it could've been done through sabotage while she was stuck in stasis. She could barely think nor respond when the red and blue mech finally managed to get close enough where he was a meter away from her.

But before he could lay a servo on her, Slyscreen found himself knocked back by a strong force. His voice box tried to cry out in pain as electric waves pounded away on his chassis only for no sounds to come out of it. Unable to handle the electric force hitting him in constant waves, the blue mech slipped in stasis.  
Amy was confused about the scene she had witnessed, wondering why the mech collapsed without her making any moves whatsoever. She dwelled on her confusion until she heard the sound of barely functioning vents constantly blowing. She immediately turn to see a large mech that wore a skeletal mask with a strange generator attached on his gauntlet.

A few sparks flew from her helm as Amy got ready to fire her blaster, not trusting the strange mech. Unfortunately for her she wasn't able to fire in time to prevent the mech quickly dashing at her at top speeds and force away her arm holding with her blaster with his servo that he transformed into a large hook. The medic was stunned at the speed the mech showcased when he had disabled her with the swiftness and ease. The actions actually reminded of her of Espiowl to which she found quite strange. Remembering the situation she was in, Amy grunted as she struggled to get out the mech's grasp.

She kept struggling till the mech commented in a annoyed tone "Stop squirming, if I was going to take you out I would have knocked you out with Smokey over there."

Amy's optics widened in surprise as the mech immediately released his grip on her. Many paranoid thoughts filled her processor, wondering if the mech was one the Autobots sent by Zeldia to throw her in stasis or if he was a Decepticon that was on a mission. She pursued her lips as she silently studied his appearance to determine which faction he belonged to. Her eyes scanned his chassis only to be surprised hat he had no visual signs of being an Autobot nor Decepticon; most of his chassis hidden under a black cloak, but even then she noticed that the armor on his legs and arms were strangely a mismatched green and red.

"Look we could stand here all day and let those Autobot friends of your catch back up to you, or you can come with me." the mech spoke up.

Amy snapped up her helm, shocked at his words. While she was wary of him, the offer of help to escape from the Autobots did seem very tempting for her.

"Why do you want to help me anyway?" the femme asked with her arms firmly crossed in suspicion.

The mech snarled slightly in frustration at being presented another question. He was tired of asking questions when he had only came after her for one goal. Suddenly the sound of speeding engines filled the air, prompting the two to stare toward the distant horizon. Knowing that more Autobots were coming, the mech quickly slid on a panel on his red gauntlet and began typing in a code. Within seconds a large red ship flew to his location and opened up the hatch door. He began to take a few step toward the ship, but before he entered the mech turned back toward Amy with his arm extended to the ship.

"I'm only helping you because you can access info I'm seeking, but if you dare ask another question I will leave you here in a spark pulse. It's up to you, let the Autobots catch you or accept my offer." he stated in a stern tone.

Amy was speechless; she wasn't sure what to do. She didn't fully trust the mech but she didn't want to be taken back by the Autobots. She stuttered her red optics tightly, fearing the growing sounds of the approaching Autobots. Finally her optics reactivated after a few seconds in thought, knowing what she wanted to do. Without any regrets, she dashed past the mech and entered the ship.  
The mech couldn't help but smirk under his mask as he entered the ship, satisfied he had obtained the thing he had came for. He knew that with Amy's help he could finally find something he had been searching for millions of years.

Zeldia had arrived just in time with her troop to see the ship taking off. She transformed from her vehicle form as she watched the ship blast off in the distant before disappearing with the help of a cloaking shield. Her voice box was silent as her servos clenched into two firm fists, shaking a bit with anger and guilt. She was angry that she had failed to obtain Amy when it was clear her actions was only the results of her wound, and she felt guilty because she believed she failed as a leader.

 _"First Peach, now Amy. I should have learned to be more careful after we lost Peach to the Decepticons. Fortunately in Amy's case we may still have a chance to save her."_ she thought to herself.

Her blue optics glanced over at Slyscreen, to see the blue mech recovering from stasis as Mooncreamer helped him sit up.

Deciding to get answers, she walked over to him and asked "Slyscreen, how did Red Amy managed to knock you into stasis?"

The blue mech groaned as he rubbed his servo against the back of his helm in an attempt to soothe the throbbing pain coursing through out it. His thoughts were dazed and groggy as he tried to piece together the events that happened between him and Amy. Much to his surprise, while some pieces he could recall with some concentration, the rest seemed to be missing in large gaps.

"Well I can remember tripping up Amy and her trying to fight me, but there's big gaps I can't remember. I tried searching my memory logs but it's like they've been erased completely." he admitted.

Upon hearing this, Zeldia's vents inhaled sharply as her optics widened within an instant. She knew that what Slyscreen had described was the nearly the exact same state the Autobots discovered Angelight in the Decepticon Prison. She recalled the Autobot Rescue Team silently entering the base with one of the soldiers carrying Angelight with a guilty looking Ratchet trailing behind. The memory of the green femme squinting her optics with a dazed look as she struggled to recognize her surroundings was burned into her processor. It was at that moment Zeldia realized that the pilot of the ship she saw flying away had to be connected to the incident at the prison.

Knowing what was needed to be done, the blue femme commanded in a stern tone "Mooncreamer, help Slyscreen get back to the base and then help the others repair the controls to the Spacebridge."

Mooncreamer tilted her helm slightly, surprised to hear the tone currently in her commander's voice.

"Um pardon me, Zeldia," she spoke up, wanting to satisfy her curiosity, "but what shall you be doing?"

Zeldia silently turned toward her comrade to see the confusion painted on her face. She glanced at the rest of her troop to see all the soldiers had the same expression. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, realizing that her troop was curious as to why she wasn't going to help out with the repairs. Her engine revved as gathered her composure, knowing that she needed to explain her actions.

After a few seconds of silence Zeldia finally answered "I will be trying to get in contact with the Ark back on Earth. I believe that I can find out where Red Amy might have gone, but in order to do that I need Ratchet to tell me exactly what happened when he and Angelight were taken as prisoners by the Decepticons."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Knuckles - Inferno  
> Clank (R&C) - First Aid  
> Sly Cooper - Smokescreen


	31. Past and Future Thoughts

Chapter 31

Daisy took in deep and frantic breaths as targets were sent flying toward her. With her arm blades flaring with energy, she slashed and destroyed the incoming targets. Before she could get the chance to breath, more targets were sent flying toward her. She huffed in frustration as she swung her arm blades once again. But due to spending most of her energy destroying the first targets, a few managed to pass her and hit the wall. The technoragnic flinched when the sound of the buzzer filled the air.

Espiowl was silently watching the training scene unfold before him with his arms folded across his chest in a stern appearance. His yellow optics glanced over at the fallen targets as he began counting them without uttering a single word.

After a few moments of silence, he finally said "You missed three more targets than last time, your movements have gotten sloppier. Your goal is to try to miss as little as possible and showing worse results isn't a sign of improvement."

Daisy yelled and stomped her foot in frustration. It annoyed her to no ends that the mech insisted that she train without even using her jet boosters or her palm blasters. She didn't understand why the Autobot wanted her to work on her arm blades when her specialty was to zip around the enemy in order to confuse him before using her advanced scanning ability in order to learn their weaknesses. The young woman never considered using her arm blades for attacks but to block blows from her opponents.

Espiowl didn't even need his student to say anything in order for him to understand the frustration she was feeling. A small happy yet bitter smile grew on his face as he recalled how he was very much the same way with his former mentor Lucariotron. His grin began to falter more and more as his processor pulled up the memory log of the scene of devastation once he returned from the task given to him by his mentor. The Autobot's spark pulsed frequently in rage and agony at remembering every single Cybertronian in Lucariotron's dojo laying dead on the ground with a countless of assortment of wounds that nearly caused the ground to be completely covered in the energon of fallen and defenseless Cybertronians.

The black mech grunted as he pressed his servo against his helm, doing his best to banish the horrifying images that managed to remain burned into his memory logs over the course of thousands of years.

Having noticed her teacher's struggle, the technorganic frowned as she tilted her head to the side in both confusion and concern.

"Espiowl, are you alright? Are you wanting to take a break or are you starting to get more frustrated with how my training has been going?" Daisy finally suggested.

Espiowl jolted up his helm as his yellow optics shuttered frequently, having forgotten what his current task was.

His vents rumbled as they cycled in air, using the training Lucariotron had taught him to help clear his mind.

Once he was calm enough, he finally replied "I'm alright, but I suppose a break is needed anyway. It's about time I escort Ness back home anyway."

Daisy frowned as she watched her teacher leave the room. Feeling the exhaustion from her training she let out a tired sigh as she plopped onto the ground, transforming back to her human form. She was so tired that she failed to notice the sound of the door to the training room reopening. All of the sudden, the technorganic jolted in surprise when she felt something tap her shoulder. She immediately spun around to be greeted by the sight of none other than Calliester.  
The red femme's chassis was frozen stiff in surprise from the reaction of her newest comrade before she slowly eased down and allowed a smirk to grow on her face.

"You know, it's good Espiowl's training is making you more aware and ready for action. But you don't need to act like a kremzeek running rampant on Cybertron." the Autobot remarked.

The ginger-headed girl tilted her head in curiosity before asking "What exactly is a kremzeek?"

Instead of the red femme answering, Jeff entered the room as he explained that a kremzeek was a creature engineered by the Decepticons that fed off of pure energy.

"Cliffalcon taught me about them during one of my many lessons about Cybertron. The creature drains any energy it can find, including the ones found in Cybertronians. They programmed the creature to ignore Decepticons so that they wouldn't have to worry about the creature trying to feed on them." the young boy continued to explain, "Apparently the Kremzeek was created to drain the Autobots of their resources and to weaken their numbers. Fortunately Wheelegad was able to help Mario with a plan to drive them off of Cybertron by using an energy field hooked to a missile. The Kremzeek chased after the energy and was promptly destroyed."

Calliester smiled nervously upon recalling that event. She did her best from groaning at remembering how the Kremzeek seemed especially interested in the energy radiating off her spark, resulting in the creature zipping in and out of her, constantly feeding on her energy bit by bit. The femme knew her spark would had been consumed by the creature if not for the fast thinking of Angelight by spraying her down with the insulating foam she developed.

"I have to admit, Jeff." Daisy spoke up, snapping Calliester away from her memories, "I'm impressed with how much you keep learning about Cybertron from your lessons. You know the planet's history, culture, and from what I've heard, you're even learning a bit of the Cybertronian language. Maybe with the knowledge you can help me get a better understanding of my technorganic nature."

Jeff hummed as he pushed up his glasses a bit in thought; he never considered the possibility of using his studies on Cybertron to gain knowledge on the unique trait that not only his friend possessed but also the former Autobot femme commander Shadowarachnia. He was stirred from his thoughts when he heard the red Autobot state that they would have to take the topic outside of the training room. The two friends were confused until, for a split-second, they both managed to catch a glimpse of a certain blue and white youngling.

Knowing they had already spotted Strongsamus, Calliester smiled softly with her servos firmly planted on her hip-joints as she explained "She's been warming up to me quite lately. But I suppose that's because I don't bombard her with questions, instead I opt to change into my altform and listen to the latest fresh tunes. I understand that it's shocking to learn there are still surviving younglings, but she's isn't really going to provide any information to a bunch of Cybertronians she barely knows."

Daisy nodded her head in understanding; she easily noticed how the youngling often steered clear of the other Autobots, especially Sidesnake. Without another word, she gestured Jeff to follow her as she began to leave the training room. But once she reached the door, Strongsamus tried to dash past the young woman which caused her shoulder to accidentally make contact with Daisy's hand. The ginger-headed woman sucked in a sharp breath with her eyes glowing bright blue. Visions flashed through Daisy's head of a fierce battle between Cybertronians, offlined mechs and femmes that had fallen in battle, a mech with a large gash in his chest, a femme impaled with a large sword with her optics flickering as spark faded. In the center of the horrifying carnage she witnessed a dark figure with bright glowing yellow optics.

The technoragnic rapidly took in quick breaths, jerking her hand away from the youngling. Her body shook with her eyes wide in horror, terrified at the visions she witnessed.

"Daisy, are you alright? You're freaking out pretty bad." Jeff stated with a frown.

Daisy inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down before answering in a hesitant tone "Yeah, yeah I'm fine."

Without another word she left the training room, not knowing that Strongsamus was staring at her with her optics filled in confusion.

Back at Dinobot Island, Shadowarachnia sat on a large rock with a frustrated glare; the injured legs on her back twitching every so often. It infuriated her that the Autobots left her in the one place she couldn't escape from unless she had help. Being trapped on an island, surrounded by the very thing her organic form couldn't survive in. But she didn't blame the Dinobots for their insight. The femme was stunned when Yoshilock explained that he was only trying to prevent her from being locked up as a returned favor for her helping him and his team.

She was stirred from her thoughts when she saw the familiar green glow of Groundbridge appear behind her. The technoragnic hissed as she crossed her arms, her digits rapidly tapping her arm. When she saw the glow disappear and the sound of heavy footsteps approaching her, she already knew whom had emerged from the Groundbridge.

"Whatever you have to say, Prime, I'm not interested." Shadowarachnia stated without even looking.

Mario's optics widened in surprise before he asked "How did you know it was me?"

The black and purple femme spun around on the rock where she was now facing the Autobot leader, revealing her narrowed red optics that were filled with both anger and hate.

"I knew it was you because you're the only Autobot, aside from the Dinobots, that insist on helping me. Well if you're here to once again try to tell me I'm this Peach-One or trying to convince me to join the Autobots, it's not going to happen." she replied in a bitter tone.

The Prime remained silent for a few moments, a little disappointed at the femme's words before finally speaking up "Actually I came to see how your legs were healing. They were damaged pretty badly when Bowsertron threw you."

Shadowarachnia's face softened in surprise. She leaned one of her spider legs forward to show it had stopped leaking energon and was now slowly healing. Her lips pursed together as she ran her servo over the tip of the leg, flinching in pain upon discovering that it was still quite sore from the impact. Her servo lingered for a few seconds before finally lowering as she moved her leg back.

"As you can see, my legs are still in the process of growing back. It may be a quite a few cycles until it fully recovers. While I despise you at the moment, I thank you for your concern." the technoragnic replied in a softer tone.

Mario raised an optic-ridge in interest at the tone Shadowarachnia had taken on. He constantly told himself multiple times that the femme before him wasn't the Peach he knew, but he couldn't help but draw a parallel between the two. Every action and word the technorganic uttered, it held the same determination and strength carried in Peach's words.

Drawing himself away from his thoughts, the red mech asked "What shall you do once you have completely healed?"

Shadowarachnia scoffed bitterly at the Prime's question. She couldn't believe he would ask such a foolish question when in reality, it didn't matter if she would completely heal, she would still be trapped on the island. Apart of her was tempted to even inject the mech with her cyber-venom once more if it weren't for the fact the legs on her back were stuck healing. So instead, she opted to remain silent as she hatefully glared at the Autobot before her.  
The Autobot leader, frowned in slight guilt when he realized his question has accidentally struck a nerve. His vents cycled in air as he sat down next to the femme.

"I'm sorry, Shadowarachnia, but you were a risk to my troop. Just know that putting you here was better than leaving you in a cell back at the Ark. I wasn't sure what to do with you and when the Dinobots offered to take you, I took advantage of it. I'm not forcing you to join the Autobots, but I can't allow you to bring harm to my troop either. I hope you understand this; my intention is not to treat you as a prisoner." Mario explained.

The femme remained silent but the grip on her arm loosened. She didn't understand why but the mech's words made her spark ache a bit, as if she did understood his intentions but it hurt that she understood. Her optics glanced at the ground as she gently cycled in air, unsure how to respond to the Prime's confession.

Deciding to break the silence, Shadowarachnia finally spoke up "Why do you care about this Peach-One?"

Mario lifted his helm in surprise. Due to his lack of silence, he saw it prompted the former Decepticon to repeat her question in a slight annoyed tone. He took a few moments as he debated where or not to tell her the truth. Finally he came up with a decision whilst his vents released a long blast of air.

"I care about Peach-One because I love her." the Autobot Leader confessed, "She was by my side almost to the beginning, fighting through the thick and thin. She would travel to the Pit and back if it meant helping me win this war. We were both equals and we both contained our emotions for the sake of the war. That choice is something I deeply regret. I never realized how much I truly cared for her until that day I had received news that she had been taken by the Decepticons and there were no signs of her life signal."

The black and purple femme's chassis stiffened as her legs slightly curled around her upon hearing the mech's words. Each word caused her spark to ache as images of Peach-One fighting alongside the brave leader constantly flashed through her processor. She clenched her denta and dug her clawed digits slightly in her arm, not caring if they left scratches.

"Is that why you seem to fuss over me so much, because you believe somewhere inside Peach-One is still the femme that sits before you?" she asked, doing her best to shove back the bitterness in her tone.

"Only at first, but not anymore." Mario answered, causing the technoragnic to jolt in surprise as he continued, "That day when we had that meeting, I hoped I could prove you were the femme of my past. But after that encounter, I came to realize you weren't quite the Peach-One I remembered. So I decided to accept the fact, no matter what name you carried, you were your own being. No matter what you would choose, may it be Shadowarachnia or Peach-One, I would respect and accept that decision. Only you can decide who you truly are."

Shadowarachnia was stunned by the Prime's answer. She had thought at first that she was only a mere beacon for a lovesick Cybertronian's hope that he could regain what he had lost, but she saw that thought was wrong. Instead the Prime had chosen to cast away the memories that emanated from gazing on her form and accept her for who she believed to be. But before she could say another word, the sound of stomping filled the air. The next thing she knew, Mario had been knocked to the ground by a very angry Yoshilock in his T-Rex form.

"I told you, she's staying with us. Spiderlady stays with Dinobots!" he roared with his optics glowing brightly red, struggling to form proper sentences due to his rage.

The red mech grunted as he pushed himself off the ground a bit as he exclaimed "I wasn't trying to take her! I was just checking to make sure she was alright!"

The robotic dinosaur snorted with steam blasting out his vents before craning his helm toward Shadowarachnia.

"Does Prime speak truth, or was he bothering you?" he asked with a hint of a snarl with his last few words.

The technoragnic shuttered her optics a few times before answering "Yes, he is telling the truth. He wasn't bothering me whatsoever."

The Dinobot cycled in air, giving one last glare at Mario before stomping off.  
Shadowarachnia sighed in relief as she rubbed her digits against the crest of her helm. While she did appreciate how the Dinobots insured she wasn't taken by the Autobots, she found herself often annoyed by how protective Yoshilock could get with her. She wondered if the Dinobot's protective nature might have been accidentally increased when Ganonwave altered him to be more aggressive in the first place.

"It's about time I should leave anyway, I can't be gone from the Ark for long periods of time." Mario stated as he stood and dusted the dirt of his arm.

He activated his comm and requested for the Groundbridge to be reopened. Within a few seconds the green glowing Groundbridge appeared before him. Though before he could enter it, he turned back toward Shadowarachnia.

The technorganic raised an optic-ridge as she said "I suppose this means I should expect future visits."

The Autobot leader nodded his helm to silently answer. Without any words or goodbyes, the Prime entered and disappeared into the Groundbridge.  
Shadowarachnia's optics lingered on the spot Mario once stood, even after the Groundbridge disappeared. Her healing legs twitched once more and she cycled in air, nothing but heavy thoughts filling her processor.

Back at the Ark, Ratchet was in shock as he stared at the video-screen that held the image of none other then Zeldia.

"What do you mean that Red Amy has fled Cybertron?!" he exclaimed in shock.

The blue femme's optics glanced downward in guilt as she explained "Red Amy tried to infiltrate Ganonwave's lab a few quartexes ago. We never knew why she did it but upon trying to escape she ended up getting caught in a blast that broke her helm. She eventually woke up but her optics were glowing red and she kept shouting these crazy paranoia's. We tried to recover her so she could be treated, but she managed to escape with an unknown pilot on a ship."

The medic stroked his chinplates in thought for a moment before commenting "Sounds like that blast ended up frying her logic circuits. With her logic circuits not functioning properly her processor ends up running rampant with thoughts that result in her paranoia."

"Fried logic circuits, that's terrible. If she isn't treated, her processor will overload and end up frying all of her systems, extinguishing her spark!" Zeldia stated as her spark pulsed in panic, "Ratchet, you need to tell me what happened that orn."

The medic froze a bit in fear, needing little to no guesses to know what the femme was referring to. Gathering his fear, he asked her to be more pacific only to have his fears confirmed; Zeldia wanted to learn the untold story of when he and Angelight were captured by the Deceptions. His chassis shook as the memory logs flashed through his processor, prompting him to shutter his optics.

Zeldia frowned when she noticed the medic trembling in fear before gently stating "Ratchet, when Slyscreen tried to get Red Amy, he ended up in a state that was much similar to the one Angelight was found in, but not as bad of a degree to hers was. I think whoever was the pilot of the ship, might be connected to your experience in that Decepticon Prison. Please, Ratchet, you have to tell me."

The red and white mech's green optics snapped wide open when he heard those words. He was in disbelief that the one that aided Amy was the one that delivered him and Angelight to the Decepticons in the first place. Knowing the threat that the mysterious pilot was known for, Ratchet cycled in air deeply as he lifted his helm.

He remained silent as he prepared himself to face the memories he swore never to revisit until finally he uttered "Alright, I'll tell you what happened that orn."


	32. Memories of Guilt

Chapter 32

_Never thought I would have to revisit the memory of that orn. But for you to understand exactly who took Red Amy, I have to start at the beginning._

Ratchet's engine revved as he dove for cover in the middle of a war zone. His vents pounded with adrenaline and some fear. Not wanting to make any sounds, the medic pulled out his navigational scanner and saw he wasn't too far from the marked coordinates. He had received a coded message from one of the Autobots' informants and the council commanded that he recover and escort that informant at all costs. The red and white mech cycled in air as he frantically searched the battleground. Seeing there were no Decepticons nearby, without hesitation, he made a mad dash for the coordinates.

He clenched his denta tightly as he jumped down in a large hole, managing to avoid a few stray laser blasts sent his way. The mech's spark pounded as he immediately pressed himself against the wall, hiding away his chassis in the shadows. Much to his relief, a few Decepticons ran by without even noticing him. He sighed before taking a look around in the hole, searching for any sign of an Autobot. Ratchet kept searching until the sound of a blaster charging up reached his audio receptors. He quickly spun around to see an injured green femme, holding her blaster in one servo and laying her other over a large hole in her side.

Immediately recognizing her as the informant, Ratchet slowly held his servos up as he said "Easy, it's okay. I'm an Autobot too. My name is Ratchet and I'm the chief medical officer. I was sent here to escort you back to Autobot Headquarters after we received your distress call."

The femme shuttered her optics a few times before she slowly lowered her blaster. She immediately hissed in pain, tightening her grip over the wound in her side.  
The medic quickly kneeled down next to the femme. Silently he activated the flashlight in his digit in order to assess the Autobot's injuries. The moment the light shined upon the femme's chassis, the mech's spark nearly stopped pulsing. He could see that not only was there a large blast wound in her side, but also that her entire leg managed to get blown off.

"No wonder you sent that distress signal. You can't even transform with this much damage done to your chassis. Fortunately I think I can at least patch up that hole of yours. As for your leg, I'll have to do most of the work at headquarters, but I think I can use some scraps here to make a temporary leg." he stated.

The femme nodded her helm in understanding, watching as the medic began summoning a few of his tools from subspace.

"So tell me," Ratchet asked as he got out the last of his tools, "what exactly is your name?"

The green femme grunted in pain before managing to utter out an answer "Angelight, my name is Angelight."

"Okay Angelight, so your wounds are so severe that using stasis gas won't work. Your circuitry and sensors are in a panic from the shock, meaning even in stasis your chassis will still feel pain and you'll awaken with extreme pain. So in order for you to be fit for travel, I'm going to have to nullify your sensors with this." the medic replied.

With the last of his words leaving his mouth, the mech made a small yellow generator raise up from an open slot in his red gauntlet.

"What's that device?" Angelight asked out of confusion.

"It's an EMP generator." the medic answered, "It's designed to send out electronic waves that nullify all sources of technology. It can be quite dangerous which is why I'm only going to give you a low dose. With such a small amount, it should only nullify your sensors. Any stronger and it can wipe out functions such as movement, transforming, speaking, or even worse, your processor."

The injured femme flinched slightly, feeling uneasy about a device capable of such devastation being used on her. But slowly she become more calm and trusting of the medic as he constantly reinsured her, telling her that he knew how exactly how many waves he should output to avoid doing any damage. The femme uttered no words as Ratchet activated his EMP generator. Within seconds, her optics dimmed as she temporarily slipped into stasis.

_I thought it would have been an easy job. Just patch her up and get her back to headquarters. But I could have never imagined the events that followed._

Ratchet rubbed his servo across his helm as he finished the last of the repairs on Angelight. He had patched up the wound on her side and crafted a temporary leg for her to walk on. He grunted as he placed the femme on his shoulder, knowing that she still had to recover from the effects of the EMP generator. Using all his strength, the mech managed to haul both him and Angelight out of the hole. His optics glanced back and forth searching for any signs of Decepticons. Believing the coast was clear, Ratchet quickly darted for a tunnel. He required cover if he were to safely transform and get Angelight to safety.

Unfortunately the moment he reached the tunnel, he heard the sound of an engine roaring. The medic knew instantly that he had been spotted. In an attempt to protect the injured informant, he ran deeper into the tunnel, hoping the darkness will act as cover. Once he felt he was far enough, he gently rested Angelight against the wall. Ratchet clenched his denta whilst summoning his blaster. He intended to deal with his pursuer personally. Very carefully and cautiously he searched the tunnel, looking for any signs of a Decepticon.

He searched every corner of the dark tunnel till suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps. Quickly he spun around and began firing. The light from the laser blasts manage to shine upon this pursuer to reveal a dark figure. Ratchet tried to fire at the figure, unfortunately the mysterious Cybertronian dashed along the shadows, almost as if he was a mere shadow as well. The medic jerked his helm back and forth, trying to relocate his opponent. Suddenly, without warning, he was greeted with a swift punch to his face. He yelled out as he smashed against the tunnel wall. The red and white mech shook his helm a few times, just in time to see another fist flying toward him.

Acting fast, Ratchet jerked to the side just in time to avoid the punch. Using the dodge to his advantage, the medic quickly summoned his wrench. With his servo gripping it tightly, he bashed the wrench against the intruder's head, earning a yell from them. The mech's green optics widened in shock when he heard his opponent's yell. To him the yell sounded distorted, almost as if the voice box was barely functioning. Unfortunately he failed to stop his pursuer from quickly turning into his vehicle form and began to quickly speed off in the direction where Angelight lay unconscious.

Not wanting to lose the Autobot's informant to a possible Decepticon, Ratchet brought out his EMP generator. He never wanted to use it as a weapon due to its capability of devastating results, but he was desperate. Without hesitation, he blasted the electric waves toward his fleeing opponent. All of the sudden, the loud beeping of something shutting off filled the air. The medic glanced up at the source of the beeping only to realize too late that he had fallen for a trap. Within seconds a wall dropped down on the mech, both injuring him and pinning him to the ground.

Ratchet grunted as he desperately tried to free himself from underneath the wall. He kept struggling until he heard the familiar sound of transforming. He tilted his helm back to see standing before him a mech with a green and black chassis and wearing a skeletal mask that hid his face.

"Normally that wall was suppose to drop with a push of a button. But either was, I'd say my trap worked out rather nicely." the green and black mech chuckled as he kneeled down to the Autobot's level, "By the way, I noticed that you left a femme a little ways back. I wouldn't suppose she's an Autobot Informant."

Ratchet snarled at the tone the mech before him taunted him with.

The green and black mech couldn't help but find himself amused at the Autobot's rage before commenting "You Autobots are all the same. Act all angry and are ready to charge in battle, yet gullible enough to follow orders from a processorless leader."

"So in other words, you're another Decepticon." the medic stated.

Much to Ratchet's surprise, the medic groaned in frustration before answering "No, I'm on no one's side. If you ask me, both the Autobots and Decepticons are like squabbling younglings, fighting over a simple planet. No, I'm a bounty hunter. I work for whoever offers me the most and it just so happens that Bowsertron has offered me quite the reward for the capture of your little friend over there."

The mech laughed as he stood up, his red optics glowing brightly behind his mask.

"Originally I was going to just take her and possibly just offline you. But after seeing that little, interesting gadget on that gauntlet of yours, I think it's in my best interest to take you as well." he stated.

Without another word, he punched Ratchet directly in the helm with all his strength, managing successfully to knock the medic into stasis.

_I had no idea how long I was under. All I know is that when I woke up, it wasn't a pretty sight._

Ratchet groaned as his senses slowly returned to him. He shuttered his optics a few times as he examined his surroundings. Quickly he learned both he and Angelight were in a prison cell meant for Autobots. He glanced over at his companion to see the femme frantically cycling in air. A guilty frown formed on his face as he turned his helm away; his job was to escort her yet he ended up landing both of them in a Decepticon prison. The two were stirred from their thoughts when they heard the sound of someone approaching. Ratchet felt like his spark nearly stopped pulsing when he lifted his helm to see not only the mech that had captured him but Bowsertron standing outside of the cell as well.

"One Autobot informant like you asked, heck I even snagged a field medic to boot." the green and black mech smirked.

Bowsertron remained silent for a few moments, examining the two Autobots with a stern glare.

Finally he turned toward the Autobot's captor and said "Well done, Locker. Have the femme sent to Vectorwave so he can retrieve the information stored in her processor. As for the medic, I can care less what happens to him. Either way, you shall receive your reward once the task is complete."

With that said, the Decepticon Leader walked away without a single noise, leaving Locker with the two prisoners.  
Locker chuckled as he signaled with his servo for two Decepticon guards to come over. He stood back as he allowed the guards to enter the cell, placing energy cuffs on the two Autobots before walking them out of the cage. The moment Ratchet was brought out of the cell, without warning Locker instantly seized ahold of the mech's neck. He grinned underneath his mask as he watched the Autobot squirm in his grip.

"Quit squirming will ya?" he said as he formed his grip tighter around the medic's neck, "I'm not going to do anything to ya... yet. You're just insurance that your friend doesn't try anything stupid. Once she's in Vectorwave's custody, I'm going to take that little generator of yours and add it to my collection."

Ratchet clenched his denta both in anger and pain. He refused to accept that he failed his mission. His green optics focused on Angelight; he saw the frightened look on her face as the Decepticon guard held her back.  
The femme optics darted between the floor and the energy cuffs around Ratchet's wrists. Finally her engine hummed as she shuttered her optics, content with what she was about to do. The moment her optics snapped open, she kicked the guard that had ahold of her, freeing herself. Acting swiftly she slammed her chassis against Locker's, prompting him to immediately drop the medic on the floor.

The red and white medic shook his helm, quickly regaining his bearings. Seeing that the other guard was after Angelight whom was in a struggle with Locker, he quickly bashed his energy cuffs down on the guard's helm, both knocking out the guard and breaking the cuffs.  
Seeing that his servos were free, Angelight immediately asked if the medic still had his EMP generator. Much to her relief the mech revealed he still had in his possession by raising it up from his gauntlet..

Struggling to keep the bounty hunter back, the green femme shouted "Remember what you told me the EMP generator was capable of? I need you to give me a strong enough blast to erase the codes in my processor!"

"What?!" Ratchet exclaimed out of shock, "But that's dangerous! I have no idea what kind of effect that strong of a blast will have on you!"

"Please Ratchet," the femme pleaded, "we can't let these codes fall to the Decepticons. Otherwise they'll gain control of Project Omega X!"

The red and white mech's felt like his entire chassis was shaking in panic. He didn't want to possibly do irreversible damage to his comrade, but he didn't want the Decepticons to gain important information neither. Unfortunately he didn't get a chance to decide when Locker finally successfully shoved Angelight away and charged toward him. Out of reflex, he activated the EMP generator before entering a struggle with Locker. The two used all their strength in attempt to overpower the other. But as they fought, the energy in the EMP generator constantly built up.

It didn't take long for the medic to finally realize what was happening. His vents cycled in air sharply upon noticing that the generator had built up too much energy and would soon overload. He tried to shut down the generator, but unfortunately he got smashed to the ground by Locker. The moment the medic's chassis smashed against the ground, electronic waves finally blasted forth from his generator. He quickly lifted up his helm, hoping he hadn't hit anyone only to see, much to his horror, that the waves had hit Angelight.

The femme was only in pain for a few seconds before lifelessly falling to ground. Ratchet's spark pulsed in fear as he quickly scampered off of the ground and darted over to the femme's chassis. His denta and servos were clenched tightly when he lifted up Angelight and began shaking her. Much to his relief, after a few moments of shaking the femme in his arms finally started to awaken.

"Angleight, are you okay?" the medic asked out of concern.

Angelight silently stared at the mech with her helm tilted slightly.

Finally after a few moments of silence, she asked "Who's Angelight? Who are you? What is this place?"

Ratchet felt like his entire world had shattered. The thing he had feared had come true. His optics shuttered tightly shut as he desperately fought back the cries of anguish he wanted to release. He was in charge of keeping her safe and now he had failed both her and the Autobots. The mech continued to dwell in his depression until he felt a pes deliver a hard blow to his side. Ratchet cried out as he slammed against the wall, pain coursing throughout his entire chassis. He groaned as he looked up to see an enraged Locker.

"You idiotic scrap! Do you have any idea what you just cost me?" the bounty hunter roared in anger whilst delivering another kick to the medic.

He snarled as he slammed his green and black pes down on the Autobot's chest, earning a yell in pain from the mech. His red optics glowed in rage behind his mask as he leaned down and grabbed ahold of Ratchet's arm. Using his free servo, he ripped the EMP generator off the medic's gauntlet, ignoring his yells of pain as the circuitry lines snapped.  
Ratchet's engine rumbled as he coughed; his green optics glanced at his gauntlet that now had a large sparking hole with broken wires. He looked over at Angelight to see her curled up against the wall in fear, still confused by her surroundings and the event she was witnessing. He wanted to comfort the femme, insure her that everything will be alright. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance as he found himself lifted up by Locker and smashed against the wall once more.

"I was just going to take your EMP generator and just offline you. But after what you've just done, it isn't good enough to just offline you. No I'd rather tell Bowsertron what you've done. Trust me, once he finds out he'll make sure you feel like you've gone to the Pit itself!" the green and black mech snarled, "But before Bowsertron takes his rage out on you, I think I'll have my turn first."

Ratchet said nothing as he was forced to bare through the mech's beatings. With every blow and kick, the mech clenched his denta tightly, refusing to unleash any yells of pain. He could feel nothing but pain throughout his entire chassis as the bounty hunter continued to beat away on him.

_Locker stayed true to his promise and informed Bowsertron of my deed. Sure enough, the Decepticreep made sure my time in that prison was beyond the worse horrors I could even imagine. With all the torture I endured from the guards, I might have joined the AllSpark if not for that rescue._

Ratchet lay in his cell with his vents blowing softly. His sensors couldn't register anything anymore except for the pain running throughout his chassis. His armor was torn and dented along with many wounds that constantly were leaking energon. He could barely feel any strength within him as his spark pulsed weakly, showing signs of flickering out if he were to endure anymore of the guard's brutality. Suddenly he heard the sound of yelling fill the air. The mech tried to listen to make out the sounds but unfortunately his audio receptors were too damaged to make out the sound.

The medic groaned as he slowly shuttered his optics, struggling to keep them open. He kept them closed until the sound of his cell door opened. He reactivated his optics, expecting to see one of the Decepticon guards that had constantly tortured him. But much to his shock, instead of a Decepticon he saw a short red and white Autobot shining a light on him.

The Autobot stared at him horrified with his large green optics wide as he said "By the Matrix, Ratchet is that really you?"

Ratchet remained silent as he stared at the Autobot, trying to recognize him. Fortunately it didn't take long as he cracked a weak grin, recognizing the Autobot as Clank Aid.

"Hey Clank." he uttered weakly, "What took ya so long?"

_Thanks to Clank, I was quickly patched up. I had shortly learned the council had sent the Protectobots team to recover captured Autobots, mostly to recover Angelight. As soon as we reached the base, the council took Angelight into their custody to see if the codes were recoverable. It wasn't long till finally they summoned me to forcible extract the codes from her processor. I felt miserable, first I caused her to lose her memory, then I was having to perform a procedure that could offline her. I can't explain what happened next but you know the rest for Angelight. She was taken into Peach-One's custody where Keriacer helped her back on her on peds by telling her name and reminding her of her core programing as a scientist. The reason I never wanted to revisit that orn wasn't because of the torture I experienced in that prison, it was because to this orn I still feel responsible for Angelight's state._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reaper (Overwatch) - Lockdown
> 
> You have to admit, Reaper does fit the role of Lockdown very nicely.


	33. Time for a Plan

Chapter 33

"So you're saying that Red Amy was taken by a bounty hunter named Locker. But what could he possibly want with her?" Zeldia asked with her optic ridge raised in confusion.

Ratchet's optics dimmed a bit as his servos curled into two fists. It worried him slightly that he didn't know what the bounty hunter was seeking by taking a field medic. He knew the bounty hunter must have hidden motives considering that was the case when he accepted the job to retrieve Angelight.

Deciding to give a femme a response, he responded "There's no telling with Locker. But still, you'll need to track him down. If there's one thing I learned about Locker from my encounter with his is that his motives are only for his own gain."

Zeldia silently tapped her digits in thought on the communicator counter. She understood it was important to track down the bounty hunter before he could carry out his motives. Only problem was that she didn't have the slightest idea how to track him nor where he might have possibly taken Amy. Suddenly, without warning, the screen began flashing red with Cybertronian text, indicating the blue femme was receiving an incoming message. She narrowed her optics at the screen, studying the caller code in order to get an idea who was calling. It only took a few seconds for her mouth to drop open upon recognizing the code to be an Autobot one.

Without hesitation, the femme answered the call, prompting a blue and red Autobot to appear on screen with a black visor that hid their entire face.

"Sorry Zeldia, normally I wouldn't be taking such precautions during a checkup report, but I can't have my cover blown." the Autobot spoke with a voice distorter, "I managed to hack into your call with Ratchet and overheard you're both trying to track down Locker. It just so happens I have been tracking him over the course of many Orbital Cycles."

Zeldia's engines rumbled as she resisted the urge to groan in annoyance. She wasn't only annoyed by the appearance of the mysterious Autobot, but by their appearance as well.

"Devlita, you've got some nerve to call here. Peach-One may have tolerated your actions, but I won't now that I'm in charge." she stated with a hint of a snarl in her voice.

The masked Autobot shook their head with a slight chuckle before they responded "You're still mad that I chose to abandon the war. Look, I'm still loyal to the Autobot cause. But it was clear there was no survival for Cybertron; I rather be a help to those who still have a chance to live. That's why I left to become a bounty hunter. Peach-One understood my reasons, I still can't fathom why you still can't."

The blue femme grinded her denta with a sneer. It frustrated her that the bounty hunter carelessly was talking about what Peach-One accepted and didn't accept without being aware what had become of the former femme commander. Pushing aside her frustrations, she decided to focus on the matter at hand. As much as she hated to admit it, the Autobots did need help from the bounty hunter. They needed to track down Locker's location and Devlita was the only one with any idea of where he could be located.

Zeldia cycled in air deeply with her digits pinching the bridge of her nose plates. Asking for the bounty hunter's help was a blow to her pride, but she saw no other choice in her current circumstance.

Finally after a few more seconds of silence, she finally said "I still hate your decision to abandon Cybertron. Despite that though, I can see that we do need your help. So I'm willing to put aside my anger so we can ally together in order to recover Red Amy. Since you're the one that has Locker's coordinates, you'll be leading this mission."

The bounty hunter nodded their helm both in understanding and slight happiness at winning the argument before stating "Alright, normally I usually do these jobs alone. But I have been learning that Locker is a dangerous individual; he always knows how to deal with both targets and pursuers. If I can, I would like Ratchet and a few Autobots to accompany me on this mission. Since Ratchet has encountered the bounty hunter in the past, he should have an idea what to look for."

"Alright, I'll send Inferknuckles and Slyscreen with you and Ratchet. I'm sure you'll especially appreciate me putting Slyscreen on the mission considering you two do share a history." the blue femme replied with a slight smirk.

The bounty hunter grunted with their digits curling up into a fist. They knew Zeldia purposely had chosen Slyscreen because they never really got along with the mech. The blue Autobot could easily recall back when they still lived on Cybertron, how the mech would purposely pester them in order to get a reaction. With a slight snarl, they agreed to the femme commander's terms. While they still found Slyscreen to be infuriating, they were still willing to accept any terms necessary to go after Locker.

Back on Earth, Espiowl remained silent in his motorcycle form as he watched Ness talk to his mother. He could overhear the adult woman voice her concerns about her son always running off to places unknown on his motorcycle. He couldn't help but feel bad for the young child that kept constantly struggling to come up with excuses to hide the Autobots' very existence. It wasn't long till he saw Ness leave his house and sighed as he leaned against of him.

"I'm starting to run out of excuses to give my mom. At the rate I might have to start have to start preparing for the possibility of my family discovering you guys." Ness said with a small smile.

"I don't think you'll have to worry too much, you'll be fine. You've done well for a youngling thrust into a conflict between two factions." Espiowl replied, one of his sidemirrors angled toward the child as he did so.

The twelve year-old's smile faltered slightly upon hearing his Autobot guardian comment on the war. He had heard the Autobots often tell him and his human companions how they never had wished for their conflict to come to Earth. He understood why they kept constantly reminding him of this fact. He heard the tales about Cybertron in its prime; how it was a planet full of vibrant life. Now it has become a dying husk, devoid of most of the life that inhabited it. Yet here he was, a boy that wouldn't be aware of such a horrible fate to befall the planet had not the Ark crashed on the Earth millions of years ago.

In his ever growing timespan with the Autobots, Ness has felt more guilty for what the Cybertronians had lost in their war. He was aware how much of a threat the Decepticons posed, but he knew the only one to get a taste of what the Autobots experienced was Paula when the Decepticons had killed her uncle. The red capped boy sighed as his brown eyes glanced down at his hands, easily noticing the psychic energy slightly sparking off his fingers tips.

Without even glancing at Espiowl, Ness asked "Espiowl, do you think there's times I can help out in the fight against the Decepticons?"

The black motorcycle practically jolted, nearly lifting his front tire a foot off the ground from the question presented to him.

It took a moment for the mech to gather up his thoughts before responding "Ness, I thought we went over this. The Decepticons are full of dangerous individuals; you should have known that from your encounters with Bowsertron and Shadowarachnia. No Decepticon would hesitate to kill a human and you wouldn't be able to defend yourself against one, let alone harm one. I understand that you and Paula aren't like other humans since you both are capable of abilities that rarely any other human has, but that isn't going to help you against a Decepticon. Besides, the last thing a youngling your age needs to do is run off into battle."

Ness frowned at the answer he received. He could tell Espiowl could struggle the thought of him getting killed in battle, especially when he had stumbled upon a scene of many dead Cybertronians in his past. The twelve year-old couldn't help but wonder how old were some of the Cybertronians killed that day; all he knew was that Espiowl stated they were sent to Lucariotron when they refused to fight. The mech's views on the Decepticons were fully cemented that day, with the image of death burned into his processor to help him strive forward.

Without a word, he smiled as he gently patted his hand against the side of the motorcycle.

"It's okay, Espiowl, you can always tell me more about that day if it helps you." he insured, "I may not be able to help in battle, but I still want to do my part in helping you guys. I feel like I owe it to you."

The Autobot's engine hummed softly in thought, dwelling on the boy's words. He considered it noble the young child wanted to do anything in his power to help. But despite his insuring words, the black mech couldn't find it in his spark to share the details of the scene his optics gazed upon. Especially since he had yet come to terms with the horrible carnage himself. He grunted slightly as he quickly banished the memory log of the dead Cybertronians old and young alike and his master's dying gasps from his processor. Until he was ready, he refused to allow himself to revisit that day.

Meanwhile in Locker's ship, Red Amy remained deadly silent at the ship's passenger station. She couldn't prevent herself from shooting a few paranoid glances at the bounty hunter stationed at the front of the ship. She still didn't understand what the mech required for her to access. Her processor was abuzz with many paranoid trains of thought, fearing the possibility of him lying about his intentions. She clenched her denta as a large amount of sparks shot out from her helm, prompting slap her servos on both sides of her helm in an attempt to ease the pain.

She found herself drawn away from her pain upon the sound of a raspy sigh reaching her audio receptors. Her red optics glanced up to the bounty hunter away from the pilot seat and now leering over her. She flinched slightly as she could see his hateful red optics staring at her behind his skeletal mask.

"I really don't appreciate you burning a hole in the back of my helm with those paranoid glares of yours." he stated in a bitter tone, "If I were to offline you or hand you off to someone, I would have done it by now. But I believe I made it very clear when we first met, I need you to access information for me."

In an attempt to gather up her bravery, Amy narrowed her optics with her arms fully crossed, unaware her right optic was slightly twitching.

"You keep claiming that, but yet you haven't even told me what supposed information I am needing to access." she pointed out, "You've been very vague about what my task exactly is, giving me no reason to trust you. For all I know, you could be luring me into feeling safe and hand me off to either the Autobots or the Decepticons. Well I'm not letting my guard down! So you'll never get the best of me!"

The femme's red optics flared slightly as a few more sparks emitted from her helm.

"Right..." Locker responded, talking a long pause as he rolled his optics, "If you're done with your little delusional freak outs, I will tell you exactly what you're needed for."

Amy didn't utter a word as she pursed her mouth, awaiting what the bounty hunter had to say. It wasn't long till the mech began explaining his intentions for taking the medic in the first place. Her vents hitched slightly when the bounty hunter stated he was aware she made a copy on Ganonwave's notes concerning merging Cybertronians with organic material. She began to grow worried and paranoid about the possibility of the bounty hunter presenting her to Ganonwave. Fortunately her worries faded slightly when Locker continued to explain that her containing such knowledge was important.

"You've clearly shown you can hack into Ganonwave's database. Over the course of thousands of vorns, I've been keeping tabs on the mad scientist per Bowsertron's request. He had his suspicions that Ganonwave was working on a few secret projects and hired me to make sure none of those projects were attempts of treachery. Turns out, Ganonwave had been actually tracking a project that had been lost after the ambush on Lucariotron's base. Knowing him, he most likely wanted to find the project so he could run experiments on it." he stated.

The medic digits tensed as her chassis stiffened; she wasn't sure what response to give Locker. Her helm sparked as paranoid scenarios ran through her processor, causing her to grow more and more fearful of answering.

Finally after deciding to gather up her courage, her vents cycled in deeply before she answered "Yes, I can access Ganonwave's files. But I still don't understand why you want me to help track down a lost project. It shouldn't have any value to you."

Her spark nearly stopped pulsing at the strict glare she received for her comment. Amy could feel her confidence and bravery easily crumbling to pieces as she did everything in her power from shaking in fear.

"If you must know." the bounty hunter finally spoke up, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his raspy voice, "One of my clients actually hired me to collect that project. My client has asked all information remain classified on them, but I will say this, they made it very clear that project could be quite crucial to them."

The femme now found herself even more puzzled than when she first met the green and black mech. She didn't understand who Locker's client was and what mysterious project he kept referring to. But her curiosity didn't matter much to her to the moment; all she wanted to do was protect herself out of the paranoia of getting on the bounty hunter's bad side would result in him turning against her. So for the sake of her own safety, the medic decided to agree to the mech's terms.

"Just promise me you will not let any Autobot or Decepticon to capture me. Knowing either side they'll either lock me up forever or run experiments on me. I do not want to be the result of Ganonwave's insane experiments like the Dinobots and Peach-One were!" she said in a stern tone, voicing her paranoia once more.

The bounty hunter groaned with his helm leaned back. He had quickly grown tired and frustrated with the femme declaring every single paranoid thought that entered her processor. But he was willing to deal with it until her usefulness ran out. The mech grinned at the thought of finally disposing of the annoying femme; he was almost tempted to hand her off to Ganonwave to see if he would subject her to experiments or simply execute her to spare himself of her annoyance. Pushing away those thoughts for the moment, Locker directed his focus to his current objective.

"Well, if you're done asking so many questions, I would like you to go back to your seat so I take the ship off of autopilot. In order to gain access to Ganonwave's files, we need to make a stop by one of his secret suppliers. According to my resources, he's on Monacus." he stated.

"Monacus, the gambling asteroid? I fail to see why Ganonwave would be getting supplies from there." Amy commented with a raised optic ridge.

"You'd be surprised, now shut up and sit down already." the bounty hunter replied with a snarl.

The medic flinched in fear before quickly sitting back down at her station. She didn't utter a single word as she watched the mech return to the pilot seat. She remained silently until she felt another pang of pain shoot through her processor. She groaned as she pressed her servo against her helm, ignoring the slight stings from the sparks emitting from her helm. Her denta clenched slightly as she did her best to ignore the pain in her helm, unaware that the pain was a sign of her time slowly running out.

Back on Dinobot Island, Shadowarachnia's legs fidgeted as she tried to sort through the different images that dwelled in her processor. She was still unsure how to differ between the fake and real memory logs, causing her to struggle with coming to terms on her identity. She couldn't decide if she was always the kind and brave Peach-One, or the vicious and cunning Shadowarachnia. Two identities that contrast each other with their polar opposite natures, yet both identities are supposedly her. The technorganic sighed whilst her red optics glanced over at the large pond she often seen Pledge splash in.

Her optics shined in focus and curiosity as she walked over to the pond. The femme leaned toward the pond in order to see her reflection, managing to see the image of the moonlight reflecting off her black and purple armor with her red optics glowing ominously in the dark. Shadowarachnia's vents slowly and gently cycled in air as she reached up and took off her helm. Her spark pulsed frantically upon staring at the image of the face in the water. She closely studied the features on her face, finding herself comparing them with the image of Peach-One's face.

She twisted to the left and right slightly, making sure to study every detail of her face. No matter how much she looked, she could still see the striking similarities between her and Peach-One. Despite the drastic differences thanks to her technoragnic nature, she could still see the mysterious femme's face lying underneath. Even in her own red optics, she could still clearly see the stern and caring blue optics that belonged to the pink femme. Shadowarchnia snarled before she swiped her servo in the water, distorting the reflection so as to no longer see the face of the femme she had grown to despise.

"Stop taunting me!" the technoragnic snarled, "They're wrong, they're all wrong! I am not a shell of a dead femme. I am not Peach-One. I am not Peach-One!"

She continued to repeat this to herself, almost as if she was trying to convince herself of this fact rather than others. Her vents rumbled as she released constant heavy blasts of air. She began digging her claws into the dirt as the water settled, allowing her to see her reflection once more. The femme clenched her fanged denta upon glaring at the reflection, hoping to see her own face into of the pink femme's. But no matter how long she stared, all she could see was the image of Peach-One's face glaring back at her.

With her will breaking, Shadowarachnia dropped her helm as wavering sobs emitted from her mouth. Her entire chassis shook as her cries filled the air. She was no longer sure of herself anymore; she was torn between two identities, unsure which identity truly lay within her spark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to quite reveal the game character I chose for Devcon, but for anyone that has played the Sly Cooper game series, you'll notice it's pretty obvious who I picked. Next chapter I will be the character's identity.


End file.
